A Treacherous Inclination
by CaitTheSomewhatGreat
Summary: Come inside for a little, lie down with me. If you fall asleep it wouldn't be the worst thing. (I'm awful at summaries, give it a chance. I'm in college, it's written with proper grammar at least? Slow start, but gets going. Just reid it, haha get it.)
1. SWAT meets the BAU

**_A/N: Wow, it's been years since I've written any kind of fan fiction. My old username was_** ** _StayBeautiful1._** ** _If you want to check out my other stories, it's been so long I can't even remember the login or the password login, oh well. The last one I wrote I was a junior in high school and was 16, and now I'm 22 and in college. Wow. As you can see this is my first Criminal Minds fan fiction and I'm not sure if I'm going to continue with it but I've been obsessed with the show, watched all the seasons twice and now being in a college and a film student with a criminal justice minor, thought I'd get my writing juices going again and give it a try. This is going to be a Reid/OC story and I'm going to keep it as close to accurate as possible. I love all the characters so much it made me nervous writing any of them because I was scared to not give them justice. I'll be checking facts as I did with the SWAT team and I have studied and am studying psychology, sociology and criminal justice so I'm gonna make it as legit as I can. I'm nervous, obviously. I have based the character off myself giving her my name and height and appearance… but here's what may be the first chapter of this love story I've already made in my mind and may write if you would like me to. It's there I just have to get it onto the paper. And I kind of got the idea for their love story from the song "Superman," by Taylor Swift. Title and bio subject to change. This is short because I don't know if I'll continue on with it. This is beginning 2x8 "Empty Planet"._**

 _"_ _We're a team member short, and we've just gotten word of what may be a case of serial bombings in Seattle. SSA Morgan has some bomb squad experience."_

 _"_ _Are you sure that she's qualified? I do not doubt you sir and I do believe that an agent from SWAT operations would be beneficial if this is a serial bombing. But there are other factors that come into play when it comes to profiling. She's only 27."_

 _"_ _Yes, sir. Send her over as soon as possible."_

The bullpen of the BAU was as silent as the Behavioral Analysis Unit could be. All of the agents were in their cubicles, finishing up case files from days prior, waiting for the call to assemble at the round table to face whatever new evil that was ready to look them dead in the eyes. Keyboards ticked in the background and chatter was present but unable to be noticed by the agents as they focused on the work that was presented in front of them. This was at least the case for all of the other agents until Penelope Garcia, the unit's technical analyst, slid next to SSA Derek Morgan so quietly that he had to keep himself from jumping as she began to ramble.

"Is that someone in Hotch's office? I didn't see someone come out of the elevator, I didn't even see anyone walk into his office. Now that I think about it I rarely ever see when Hotch comes in or out of his office," she began at a quick but steady pace, "I have been looking through all of the files of who could be coming in or out of the BAU ever since Elle went away and I have not had any kind of data not even a small gigabyte that would indicate why there would be someone in Hotch's office, with the door _closed._ "

"First off babygirl," Morgan began, "take a breath. I'm sure it could just be someone dropping off files but whatever it is, even if it is someone new we just have to wait."

"I don't like change, Derek." At that moment Jennifer Jerau, the media liaison opened the door to the bullpen. Doctor Spencer Reid, who was fiddling with the lid of his coffee cup raised his glance to her through the lenses of his glasses,

"Hey J.J. how was your wee…" the young doctor trailed off as the liaison blew past him and straight into the office that held the unknown stranger.

"I don't like how this is going." Penelope mumbled.

"The incident commander told me you've been with the SWAT team for three years now?" Agent Hotchner inquired flipping through a file, not taking his eyes from the page to look at the young woman who stood before him.

"Yes sir," she replied, "I've been with that unit since I graduated the academy."

"I see you've also gotten training in explosives, negotiation, defensive tactics and rappelling."

"That's right Sir." she answered, running her fingertips along the lining of the chair in his office, not sure if she was to stand upright or dare to be comfortable enough to sit down. Finally breaking his eyes from the manilla folder that held all of her information Hotch lifted his eyes to connect with hers. His gaze was so strong and stern it seemed like just a glance could make her fall from her feet.

"Seeing that you have a Masters Degree in Psychology and a bachelor's in sociology you definitely seem to be the type of agent that we would need in a case that we may be called into from Seattle P.D."

"Yes, sir."

"You would not be apart of this team if we asked you to consult on some cases, and an invitation means that I would be putting part of my trust in you to be able to make decisions that are good for the case and for the well being of this team. I know you have some history with Agent Morgan during your explosive training, so I will be asking his input on you and your performance." Before she even had a chance to respond, a young blonde knocked on the door, file in hand.

"Homeland security just called and there was another bomb threat to another unspecified area," she began handing yet another folder to the Unit Chief, "they need a threat assessment ASAP."

"Assemble the team," Hotch began, his gaze was on her yet again, "Robertson, I guess it's your time follow me."

SA Caitlyn Robertson followed behind Hotch hastily. Standing at 5'3" the young blonde was petite, but in good shape for the training that she had to endure to be apart of the SWAT team. Most of the time she was behind the lines of officers who directly went after the threat as she quickly climbed the ranks and was deemed worthy enough to direct tactical takedowns. Her boots made a small click on the floor, flat black tied up with a pair of black pants tucked into them and held up by a black leather belt with a silver buckle. On top she wore a plain, black, long-sleeved v-neck which laid just above her belt. Caitlyn thought that she was just going into an interview, being one who wasn't easily startled or surprised the feeling of her heart throbbing in her head and her gut dropping into her stomach was new as she hastily followed Hotch into a room full of agents she had never met before. She took a deep breath and tucked a strand of her mid-length blonde waves behind her ear as he swung the door open.

It was as if there was a spotlight shining on her as soon as she entered the conference room, any source of noise seemed to have gone completely silent. All eyes were on her and she scanned the round table. She recognized Gideon from pictures she had seen of him, and the woman that bursted into Hotch's office. There was a woman with an odd hairstyle and a bright ensemble that gave her a blank stare. Caitlyn kept her face expressionless as she looked around the remainder of the room. The young agent with the glasses didn't even look up from his case file until the silence was shattered by Derek Morgan.

"Cait?" he asked, looking at the young woman and then looking to his unit chief. She gave him a small smile and a nod and then instantly locked eyes with the young agent who was so busy with his case files beforehand. As soon as their eyes connected he broke away immediately and fumbled with the pages in the folder.

"Everyone this is Agent Caitlyn Robertson, she's going to be helping us on this case. She's from the SWAT division and with her training with explosives she may be a valuable asset on this case. Take a seat." Hotch ordered, and she immediately obeyed sitting at the round table next to Morgan.

"This is the threat that was sent," J.J. began, clicking a button on a remote control and causing audio to play.

 _I'm sorry, did you say a bomb, sir?_

 _On a bus, in the city where it all began, get my message out._

 _Message what message?_

 _That until it gets under control, people will die._

 _"_ This is just one of multiple threats that have been called in within the past hour, not a recording, same message just different wording." she finished.

"This guy could have easily just gone to a news station to get his message out, why call each location individually?" Dr Reid inquired, still not looking up from his folder.

"I've gotten a news organization to agree to a trap and trace," Penelope confirmed.

"That's not easy to do." Caitlyn chimed in and Garcia gave her a wink,  
"It's hard to say no to me. But what do we do? Tell the media to run with the story, nothing has happened yet."

"With what he was saying, he said that this is only the beginning and if this threat isn't followed by any kind of action nothing is going to be taken seriously." Caitlyn chimed in.

"And he said this is only the beginning, the beginning of what?" Reid said, only gazing up to look Gideon in the eyes.

"I'm not sure but the only thing we can do right now is wait."

Caitlyn stayed seated in the chair until Hotch and Gideon left the room, she wasn't used to the protocol here and didn't want to be the first one to get up, no matter how eager she was.

"This is the last place I thought I would see you," Morgan grinned, turning over his shoulder as he stood along with Garcia and Reid.

"How do you two know each other?" Garcia asked her tone still unsure of the new arrival.

"We did explosive training together a few years back, how old are you now?" Morgan asked.

"27."

"You're a year older than our very own Dr. Reid," Morgan grinned, putting his hand on the young man's shoulder.

"26? And you have doctorates?" She asked making eye contact with him once more and raising her brows.

"Yeah, I have three PhD's. I also have a BA in Psychology and Sociology."

"Well then Doctor, we have something in common. I have a Masters in Psychology and BA in Sociology as well."

"I'm a genius too!" Garcia chimed in, "I may not have degrees or have gotten them at a young age or anything but I am."

"We have time to wait I'd love to hear your opinion on new Darwinism." Caitlyn suggested, lured in by how quickly the young doctor rattled off his academic achievements. The SWAT team was amazing but didn't have many with BA's in psychology, let alone doctorates.

"Yeah, I um, have to um, I forgot…" he began, "I have to grab... something. Next time."

Garcia stared at Derek who had a small smirk on his face, knowing that the young doctor got flustered and wasn't very confident in himself or girls. Especially new girls who looked him straight in the eyes and wanted to have a conversation with him, without him engaging first and then doing what he would normally do an nervously ramble about a topic until one of his other team members cut him off.

"Did I say something wrong?"


	2. Close Contact

"Hey, hey Reid! Slow down!" Morgan yelled after the young doctor in a hushed tone in order to keep his voice out of hearing range of the women walking out of the conference room and into their cubicles. Reid stopped his quick pace and turned around to meet the gaze of his fellow colleague.

"What?"

"What the hell was that, kid?"

"What do you mean, what the hell was what?" he responded quickly.

"Cait was totally trying to start a conversation with you and you ran."

"I didn't run!"

"You definitely did, if you picked up your pace a little faster you would have been in a full sprint."

The young doctor shook his head and then smoothed a piece of hair behind his ear. He gazed over at Caitlyn, who was sitting in a cubicle with Garcia who was talking a mile a minute.

"Okay, maybe I got a little nervous. But I don't really have the best experience with girls. Last time I tried asking J.J. out it was a disaster."

"Well I saw her looking at you in the conference room, since you were too busy staring down at your case file to notice and then she tried to start a conversation with you. She could be interested in you." Reid snorted and had to keep himself from erupting into a full fit of laughter.

"Yeah, sure Morgan. Maybe your profiling skills need a little tune up. And anyways I DID notice her looking at me, that's exactly why I was looking at my case file." He answered, the need of looking all knowing and alert not helping his case with his fellow agent.

"They definitely don't. Just talk to her." At that moment Hotch bursted into the bull-pen and all of the agents heads swiveled around quickly into his direction.

"There was a bombing on a bus, let's go."

Since Seattle was less than an hour away from D.C. all of the agents jumped into the black sedans instead of the BAU's personal private jet. Caitlyn rode in the backseat of the car along with Spencer, Morgan, and Gideon all in the sedan as well. They wouldn't be able to review more of the case files to make any connections without seeing the scene of the crime. Caitlyn bounced her leg, a nervous habit as they drove in the loudest silence she had ever experienced. Morgan turned to look back at the young doctor from his position in the passenger's seat. Reid cleared his throat.

"So, um, why did you choose the SWAT unit?" he finally stammered out, fumbling over the first few words. Caitlyn ignored him at first, she thought the young doctor hated her and didn't think that he would be talking to her. When she finally realized that he was, she turned her gaze to him.

"Oh! Uhm, well after my training in the academy I saw what my strengths and weaknesses were. I was in pretty good shape and had boxing and martial arts training which is good in combat and had really good tactical skills so I thought that with the additional training that was offered that it would be the best fit for me." she answered.

"Yeah, you can kick some ass." Morgan chuckled.

"Why the BAU?" Caitlyn asked, staring directly into Reid's eyes, which made him divert his glance right away from her eyes to his hands.

"I find it extremely interesting, on average there are about 40 murders a day in the United States. According to data that was gathered by the bureau an estimated 14,612 people were murdered in the United States last year. So I don't know I guess I want to help give closure to the families that are apart of that statistic and stop the serials that would add to it."

"Wow," Caitlyn breathed, "Tall, smart and handsome." Instantly she wanted to take the words right back into her mouth, tall smart and handsome? Like tall, dark and handsome? Why was she trying to be clever? Oh god, how stupid did she sound. The young agent wanted to slap her palm to her forehead or maybe give herself a smack in the face or the lesser and open the car door and throw herself onto the highway they were speeding over. _So fuckin stupid, Caitlyn._ She had been around guys all her time in the academy especially the juice heads in her unit, what was the deal?

"We're here." Morgan announced, saving Reid from trying to come up with a response to the agent sitting next to him which would have been absolutely impossible. Morgan gave Reid a small smirk before exiting the vehicle.

"So I guess Seattle is the beginning," Reid started, as they all filed out of the sedan.

"But I still can't understand what the beginning is." Morgan inquired.

"It's a personal cause bomber, it only needs to be significant to him." Gideon answered. The group walked over to the rest of the team where Hotch was introducing the agents to the officer running the case.

"Have you identified the device?" Hitch asked the officer.

"Its a small pipe bomb attached to an umbrella."

"I'd like to take a look at those bomb fragments as soon as possible." Caitlyn started and then looked over at Hotch, "if that's okay."

The team leader nodded in approval as the officer walked them around the crime scene.

"How many people were on the bus?" Reid asked.

"27, only two were killed."  
"A pipe bomb on a crowded city bus and only two were killed?" Caitlyn spoke up again, "It must have been a relatively small charge."

"She's right, the two who were killed were the two who were the closest to the bomb." The officer confirmed. The rest of the agents continued to talk as Gideon stepped onto the bus.

"He detonated the bomb from close by, was it because he wanted to be close to the explosion or he needed to be?" Hotch asked looking over at Caitlyn.

"He probably had to be, those remotes are pretty limited."

"Maybe he was nervous." Hotch stated, lifting up his sunglasses off the rim of his nose to get a better look at the crime scene, squinting his eyes to protect himself from the glare of the sun.

"Should we set up a press conference?" J.J asked.

"Yes," Gideon began, "and it's going to be about getting this unsub to call us."

"Alright we'll get the press conference set up, Robertson and Reid you go and take a look at the bomb fragments."

Caitlyn and Reid were silent as they rode back to the station with the head officer on the case. Caitlyn couldn't tell what the young doctor felt about her, he was so hot and cold. But she didn't have time to worry about that, especially when a serial bomber could be on the loose. When they finally arrived, she slipped on a pair of latex gloves and sat with Reid infront of her. She looked through the pieces and held up the device with a small chuckle.

"You know, Doctor Reid,"

"You can call me Spencer." he answered, leaning closer to her to take a look at the device.

"Alright, Spencer. The un sub could have bought this at any old toy store. You take a remote control car, plane or boat, attach a detonator like this to a motor, touch the remote… boom." she explained, Reid nodding his head in understanding with everything she said. At that time another bomb tech entered the room, she introduced herself to both agents and explained her reconstruction.

"Can you tell me what else was used?" Caitlyn asked.

"Well he used dried peas."

"Dried peas?" she questioned, "he chose an explosive that would do limited damage, why?"

"There's also a picture engraved on it," the bomb tech said, holding up the reconstruction. Caitlyn and Reid both leaned their faces close in order to take a look.

"It's a robot with an arrow through it."  
"Anti-robotics?" At that moment they realized how close their faces were and made eye contact and both shifted back into their chairs as if they were yanked by gravity, even Caitlyn had to keep herself from blushing. This was completely unlike her, she didn't even know Spencer and thought he hated her… she actually wasn't even sure if he didn't hate her.

"Doesn't Seattle use smart busses? High tech busses that use time sensors to give out departure and arrival times?" Reid asked, his voice high pitched in the beginning from the close faced encounter until he cleared his throat halfway through and returned to his normal tone of voice.

"Yeah, they went online last year." The bomb tech confirmed.

"So he's anti technology?" Caitlyn assumed.

"Maybe." Reid answered, "We should call Hotch I think we have enough to deliver the profile."

 **A/N: Sorry that it's kind of short it's late but I wanted to give those who followed an update. Don't worry I'll have longer chapters in the future and I really hope that you guys enjoy it and I'll be able to get far enough along to begin their epic but sad and honestly tragic awful love story. But it's in the skinny love stage… oooooooohhhhh. Sorry, tired sleep. Review and thanks for those who did and are following :)**


	3. Source and Target

**_A/N: WOW! Look at me go! Another update. We have some Caitlyn Reid moments in here, small but they'll get there. I got off work early and have the next two days off so I decided to take a crack at another chapter- an hour later and here it is. Thank you to those who have reviewed and such, please please review, I like them and it'll bring updates sooner ;)_**

 ** _Oh and if it ever says Hitch, and not Hotch, that's the beautiful handiwork of my autocorrect. Sorry._**

"Yeah, I think that this may be some form of anti-robotics movement, we're heading back to the station now." Reid finished, hanging up his phone and sliding it into the pocket of his messenger bag as Caitlyn unlocked the black sedan.

"Mind if I drive?" she asked, even though she was already opening the door to the driver's seat, "I may need directions though-"

"All you have to do is take the I-45 west, you can get off at Ridgewood and then go under the overpass and onto the 210 East and we'll arrive to the station in fourteen minutes if you maintain a speed of 45 miles per hour and we only hit two stop lights."

"Alright, so exactly how smart are you? With all this robotics tied in with the case I'm worried about your safety doctor, are you a robot?" Caitlyn joked pulling her seatbelt across her waist, the young doctor cracked a small smile.

"I have an eidetic memory, an IQ of 187 even though I don't think intelligence can be quantified and can read 20,000 words per minute."

"Well, I can juggle."

Reid turned in his seat to look at her, not being able to keep a smile from his lips

"Can you really?"

"Yep, and I can saber a bottle of champagne but I don't think that's something that I can show you in the field or in the office." Caitlyn smiled.

"I can do magic but I was never able to juggle." he finally smiled openly for what seemed to be the first time she'd ever seen him do it directly at her.

"But you're not going to be pulling quarters out of my ears are you?" Caitlyn smiled back, looking him directly in the eyes. Yet again he quickly turned his glance away from her. Maybe he didn't like when people looked him directly in the eyes, or maybe he didn't like it when she did it specifically. Pulling onto the road, Caitlyn reached for the radio to fill the silence.

"Any kind of music that you like to listen to?" she asked, desperate to find some common ground and get him back to that hint of warmth that he turned on and off.

"I'm particularly fond of classical music, helps me concentrate." Caitlyn was flipping through the station as the young doctor began to rattle off facts about classical music. After six minutes had passed she spoke,

"Well I don't really think we're gonna find that on the radio so I-" she was cut off by the sound of The Next Episode, by Dr. Dre "-oh, now listen this is a doctor whose work I've studied."

"Oh, joy."

"This is good stuff, Spence." The young doctor pretended to be annoyed as he opened a book, hiding a small smile on his face as he quickly read through it.

Their sedan pulled up the same time as Morgan and some of the other agents. Derek's head started bobbing up and down as he heard the muffled sound of music before Caitlyn shut off the sedan.

"Dr. Dre," Morgan chuckled, "you got Reid to rap?"

"Definitely not," the young doctor answered, "but we have information that we need to go over." All of the others followed him into the station where Hotch was standing infont of a board with scenes from the crime sorted amongst it. Gideon was looking over the pictures of the pipe bomb and related files that Garcia had sent over.  
"Let's deliver the profile." Hotch said, Caitlyn following the rest of the agents as they entered a room filled with police officers, eager to hear about the unsub.

"This un sub resides in Seattle, all of the acts including property damage have taken place here, which shows he has knowledge of the area. Even though he escalated and killed today, we don't believe that was his intention." Hotch began.

"We believe fear was the larger motive seeing as though those around the bomb only received minor injuries," Morgan continued.

"So he's a terroist?" An officer asked.

"He is, but that's too vague of a description for our purposes," the young doctor spoke up, and Caitlyn looked in his direction as if it was some kind of instinct, "there are many different types and we believe he is a personal cause bomber."

"And personal bombers are driven by an underlying personal conflict." Hotch continued. Reid then stood up and began rambling on facts about the unibomber, Caitlyn could feel eyes on her as she watched him and made eye contact with Morgan who was watching her watch the young doctor. She looked away quickly and then down to her feet.

"This un sub is a male, he lives alone and is probably self employed."

"He's…" Caitlyn began, still somewhat unsure of herself and never giving a profile before somewhat nervous. "He's highly organized, meticulous and very smart."

Hotch gave her an approving nod,

"This is the kind of guy that his neighbors wouldn't be surprised if they found out he was the bomber, he's angry, prone to fits of rage."  
"His target appears to be technology, the kind of technology we're surrounded by." Gideon stated. At that moment the phone rang, and the whole office went silent.

"Agent Gideon, you have a call on the tip line." At that time Gideon went into a small room, leaving the rest of the agents to wait.

Caitlyn found herself what seemed to be seconds later in the aftermath of an explosion that took place in a car in a gas station. She recognized a smell in the air.  
"Do you smell that?" she stated, "he used the same explosive just a lot more of it." She tip toed towards the car carefully, "it seems like he even used the same detonation device."

"The gas station attendant left 15 minutes prior, so no one was here for the explosion." Reid confirmed as Caitlyn carefully tried to look at as much of the remainder of the bomb fragments as possible.

"An increase in the explosion and a decrease in the number of victims, we need a grid search as soon as possible. He said his message would be here when we arrived." Gideon commanded. All the agents began looking around as Caitlyn still tried to get a better look at the bomb fragments.

"Over here!" the bomb tech called from inside the gas station, which in turn got all the agents running towards her voice. Once they got into range she continued again, "it's a book." Reid jumped after it quickly, Caitlyn wanted to reach forward and tell him to stop, but it was as if the pages were magnetized and he couldn't get to it fast enough. What if the bomb tech didn't look good enough, what if- Caitlyn. Stop. This is a case, get a grip on yourself.

"It's some sort of manifesto." He said, already reading it, his mouth mouthing the words quickly.

By the time the agents were back at the station, Reid had already finished the manifesto. Twice.

"So his manifesto is extremely unrealistic, he wants to get rid of all existing technology in a ridiculously short amount of time." Hotch started.

"And if we don't then more bombs will be set off." J.J finished.

"He calls himself Allegro." Gideon sighed, staring at the board.

"What?" Caitlyn and Ried both said at the same time, the same light bulb going off in their head.

"He said he was Allegro." Gideon repeated.

"Of course!" Reid started,

"Allegro like…" Caitlyn began but was interrupted and over ran by Reid.

"It's a book called,"

"Empty Planet!" Caitlyn cut back in.

"You've read Empty Planet?" Reid asked looking over at the blonde agent.

"Yeah, I did when I was a teenager it's awesome and makes a lot of sense now." she answered.

"Okay and for those of us who DIDN'T," Morgan cued.

"Sorry," Reid responded, "It has everything technoids, all that stuff is in there! Robots that take over the world when they learn how to reproduce with humans, essentially humanity is lost to technology and the hero of the book is a 12 year old boy named Allegro who builds an army for the humans."

"Morgan have Garcia get as much information on the author as possible."

"There was someone named Dr. Cook on the bus that was far from the umbrella." J.J stated.

"Yeah, he's basically a master of artificial intelligence." Reid answered.

"Alright, Caitlyn and Morgan you stay here, me and Reid are going to talk to Dr. Cook."

"So it turns out that the author is a teacher at the University of Seattle." Morgan told Caitlyn who was looking over pictures from the crime scene.

"This is all connected then. So he's probably targeting the sources of technology, even people." Caitlyn said, holding up the photos in her hand.

"I'm going to let Gideon and Reid know, who probably is an interest of yours." Morgan said, raising an eyebrow. Caitlyn dropped the pictures on the table,

"Why would you think I'm interested in Gideon?" Caitlyn said trying to make a joke and divert the handsome agent.

"Nice try, Cait. I'm talking about Reid."

"R-R-Reid? No. I'm not interested, what makes you think that? I like just met him and there's a bomber and he didn't say anything did he?" she asked.

"No but now you're my source. And pretty boy is your target."

"Nice word play but no he doesn't…. I don't-" she started, but Morgan was already out of the room. How would he know about something that she didn't even know about herself?

"I don't like you Derek Morgan. You're a target for a kick in the ass! " she called out into the hallway.

"It looks like a compression bomb." Caitlyn said, looking at another blown up vehicle. "The second he moved… boom." She said to Morgan and Hotch. Reid and Gideon were talking to the author of the book. Hotch stepped away to take a phone call as Caitlyn pretended to be extremely intrigued with the bomb fragments in order to make it seem like she was busy and so that Morgan wouldn't bring up the whole Reid thing.

"You heard me back at the station, I know you know that bomb and could make it yourself, don't avoid the subject Cait." Morgan prodded.

"I don't know what you're talking about Morgan, as far as I'm concerned we have a bigger problem and he doesn't even talk to me. I think he hates me."

"So you ARE interested in him." Morgan laughed with an air of success knowing that he was right.

"I didn't say that! I just, even if I was he doesn't…" Once again she was saved by Hotch, who let the agents know that they got note of another bomb. That afternoon her and Morgan and Hotch were going from location to location, getting increasingly frustrated as they chased the bomber around, picking up the bombs he left as if they were breadcrumbs. Notch's phone rang yet again but this time the conversation was short and he was heading to the car as he was talking. "We know who he's targeting next,"

"There could be a compression bomb under her car too," Caitlyn started, running after her unit chief. They were in dead silence as they sped up to the location all the agents running up the stairs to the parking structure.

"How long ago did her assistant say she left?" Morgan yelled back, Caitlyn right behind him and Hotch on her heels.

"Minutes." he answered.

"Good, maybe she's not in the car yet." Caitlyn's heart sank as she saw the woman in the car and driving away. She strengthened her sprint to get next to Morgan all three of the officers running towards her vehicle.  
"Stop the car, stop the car!"

The woman slowed down, cellphone still to her ear and a look on her face that was a mixture of annoyance and confusion.  
"Ma'am, please put the car in park and don't touch the ignition."  
"I'm gonna have to call you back," she said to the unknown receiver on the other side of the phone and hanging up. "What's going on?"

"Dr. Braiser?" Morgan asked.

"Yes! What is going on?"

"Don't worry we're FBI." he answered. He gave Caitlyn a nod and she slowly opened the driver's side.

"Hi, my name is Caitlyn. I need you to be very still and not to move, okay?" she said as sincerely as possible as she peeked her head under the seat. When she got a glimpse of the bomb she shut her eyes tightly "damn." Giving herself a minute to compose her facial features before looking into the eyes of the woman sitting on the bomb.

"Listen… I need you to stay as still and as calm as possible, okay?"

"Why! Tell me what's going on."

"There's a bomb under your seat."


	4. Detonation

**A/N: Here's another one, thank you for the follows and the reviews! Please keep them coming I'm rushing to work so I had to kinda rush to finish this up, it's kind of a filler and we're off to a slow start but thanks for sticking with me I hope I'm doing good and it'll get juicier, I promise. More Reid/Caitlyn next chapter! Just need to establish some ground first.**

It was never easy to see someone's life change before their eyes. The way that their brow would furrow, their hands would begin to shake as their brain would use every ounce of its strength to get them to formulate a thought, something to say or do. This wasn't the first time Caitlyn had seen this. She had experienced it before herself, but being the one to deliver news to someone who was just going for a ride in their car and telling them that they may possibly be blown to smithereens was never easy.

"Oh good god, why," the woman began, tears starting to form in her eyes and she put the car in park and rested her head on the headrest.

"It's going to be okay, I'm not going to leave you. You're going to be okay." Caitlyn said softly, grabbing the woman's hand in hers.

"Now I need you to stay very still, I'm going to look under your seat." Caitlyn continued as she saw the bomb tech approaching, she needed to get a better look at the device in order to increase the chances of a successful extraction. It took every muscle in her body to keep herself calm, no matter how many take downs or shoot outs, no matter how many times she had looked death in the eye and won, she was still human.

"Every device this guy has made has been very basic, I'm guessing that this is just a simple action compression detonator," Caitlyn said softly to the bomb tech, trying not to let the woman who was actually sitting ontop of it hear as she was saying quiet prayers to herself. "It can be disengaged like a door latch, you know what to do."

"Yeah we should be okay," the bomb tech said to Morgan as they both walked over towards Hotch to explain what was going on.

"If there's any Mercury in that, we got problems." Morgan responded.

The bomb tech nodded and went to go get the needed tools to unhook the latch that would dis-arm the bomb and get Amelia to safety.

"You're going to be just fine," Caitlyn said softly to the woman as tears rolled down her face. The young agent reached forward and wiped one from underneath her eyes, "you're going to be okay."

xxx

"Thanks, Hotch." Gideon said in the quiet office as Doctor Reid awaited to hear what was on the other side, "yeah I got it." And with that he hung up to turn to the rest of the patrons in the room.

"So?" Reid asked, standing up and crossing his arms. This was something the young doctor would never get used to either, no matter how many times his fellow team mates would be in danger and no matter how well he knew that they were aware of the danger that they put themselves in everyday.

"The bomb tech is just about ready." Gideon stated, sliding his phone in his pocket and sitting on the couch.

"Maybe we should get over there." Reid suggested, even though he would never get used to it, it felt different this time.

"Nope," Gideon breathed, "we would just be in the way."

"Well," The young doctor started, looking down at the floor and then up at Gideon. Reid knew that Gideon knew him better than anyone else and respected his decision even though he wanted to be on that rooftop. He tried to choose his words selectively, but the reason that it was different this time slipped out and he knew Gideon would know what the young doctor was feeling even if Spencer didn't know himself and Gideon probably already did, "what about Caitlyn?"

"She hasn't changed her mind."

xxx

Caitlyn held both of the woman's hands in hers, using her thumbs to rub the tops of her hands. The woman had stopped crying now and was just starting into the distance, probably thinking about her life, what she could have done differently and regretting getting into her car. Caitlyn didn't even flinch when she heard Hotch's voice from beside her, it was low and steady.

"Robertson, I am ordering you to step away from the car." he said in a stern tone, as if he was speaking to a child misbehaving and didn't want to raise his voice to bring attention to other parents in the supermarket.

"Agent Hotchner, I respect you but I'm not leaving her." Caitlyn answered, the woman turning her stone gaze for the first time in what seemed like an eternity. She made a connection with hers and Caitlyn could almost feel the fear and sorrow surrounding her, mixing in with her own fear of being blown up on a rooftop.

"You should listen to your friends," she said softly. Caitlyn shook her head,

"Hey, don't do that. Don't turn on me Doc, we're in this together, I said I was staying with you. You're not being left alone."

"How old are you?"

"27."

"You're just a baby, Caitlyn. You don't have to die up here with me."  
"Stop that," Caitlyn said, squeezing her hands tighter, "you're not going to die and neither am I."

"You're so young. Don't you have a boyfriend or a husband, I don't really have anybody."

"I don't. So I have you and you got me, alright?"

At that moment Hotch shook his head and left the area to join Morgan on the sidelines as the bomb tech approached the car.

"Alright, now she has one of my hands," Caitlyn said loudly to the bomb tech, "so you're going to have to be mine. Do what you have to do." She ordered. She kept her eyes on the woman who was beginning to shake with fear, Caitlyn tried to steady her hands by holding them tighter.

"It's going to be okay, tell me something about yourself. Don't focus on what's going on right now," Caitlyn said in an effort to distract her.

"Do you ever want to have kids?" The woman asked.

"Yeah, maybe one day."

"Why are you alone, you're an amazing woman. There's no um…" she fumbled with her words as the bomb tech started to go under the woman seat. "There's no one in your life?"

"Well, I think there may be someone, but I don't really know him and I'm pretty sure he hates me." Caitlyn said cracking a smile which in turn made the woman laugh lightly.

"That's how it always works doesn't it? Life has a funny way of working and so do people. That's why I love science it always had a way of being exact and not surprising you."  
"Yeah well Doctor, the way I feel about him surprises myself. I'm around dudes all day, nice looking ones too," Caitlyn said trying to keep the conversation light, "but I cared about my work and helping people, like we're going to help you now."

"So you've never noticed anyone before?"  
"Not really," Caitlyn said honestly, "and the one I do hates me." That brought another chuckle from the woman again, Caitlyn smiled knowing that she was keeping her distracted and able to make her smile. Even though the young agent could only be focused on the bomb tech working under the seat. One thing Caitlyn was always able to do was make the worst situations somewhat funny. She used her humor as a defense mechanism whenever she felt awkward or uncomfortable. Sometimes it wasn't the best, but it helped sometimes. She continued to speak to the woman, not taking her eyes off as the bomb tech worked underneath them. What if she were to blow up right here on the rooftop. She always tried to not think that way, and think positive but what if?

xxx

"I don't see anything in this manifesto, all I see is some psychopath babbling about my novel and taking it completely out of context." The author said, placing down the manuscript and taking off her glasses.

"Listen," Gideon started, standing up and taking steps towards the desk, "I have a young agent who is young and that I respect risking her life because of this psychopath, read it again."

"Please," Reid said softly, "just read through it one more time."

xxx

"You're going to be just fine." Caitlyn repeated as Hotch and Morgan watched safely from behind a vehicle. She heard the sliding of metal as the bomb tech began to extract the device. Caitlyn held her breath as she began to extract the device. She knew they were in the clear as she slid it from under the seat and started to walk away. The woman lurched from her seat and grabbed onto Caitlyn so tight, soaking the shoulder of her shirt in tears.

"Oh dear Jesus, thank you, thank you so much."

Caitlyn stood up and continued to hold the woman as she returned the embrace just as tight and able to breathe easy it seemed as though she was holding her breath the whole time.

"Agent, you tell that boy you like him. You're very hard to hate. Thank you so much." she sobbed.

"That was lucky," the assisting officer said to Hotch as he watched the scene.

"Yeah, this time." Hotch responded as he phoned Gideon to let him know the status of the Doctor and Caitlyn.

The woman was taken to an ambulance to make sure that she was okay and then to be transported to a safe location. Caitlyn looked down at the ground as she walked over to Morgan and her supervisor, unsure of what he was going to say.

"Hotch I…"

"Robertson, you blatantly defied my orders back there. I told you that you were not apart of this team, and that you would be on a very strict watch," Hotch scolded.

"Hotch, come on…" Morgan started but was cut off.

"I wasn't finished. That was extremely reckless and you could have lost your life and that would have been on me. But you helped that woman and were extremely helpful, we'll discuss your actions back at the office." he finished and then walked away to continue to talk to Gideon. Caitlyn looked at Morgan,

"So… was that a compliment, or am I in deep shit?"

"I think you're good. That was a noble thing you did, staying with her." Morgan answered, "but don't be pulling that hero bullshit all the time, big shot."

"Yeah, that definitely isn't the kind of situation I'm trying to get myself into like… ever again. Being blown up is the last way that I want to die."

"Yeah if you did boy genius would lose the only girl on the planet thats into him."

"MORGAN!"


	5. Recipe for Disaster

**A/N: You readers can thank my manager for letting me go home early because if he didn't this chapter wouldn't have happened so soon! Now is where it's going to start getting good. Thank you guys for the reviews that you've given, they really motivate me to write more so do the math… more reviews, faster and longer updates so review review and enjoy!**

"Okay, good. Now blow it up." Gideon said before hanging up the phone. Reid let out a sigh of relief, he would have been concerned if it was any one of his team mates. The young doctor never had as much contact with women, most of what he knew about them was from what his mother told him or what he read in books. Being a 12 year old in college never sent the ladies his way and when he rambled he would instantly be shut down if his lanky looks didn't do it before he opened his mouth. So he focused on his work and excelled with his superior intelligence. So the feeling in the pit of his gut, the one that he couldn't really put a scientific explanation for or any legitimate term confused him.

"You're blowing it up!?" The author exclaimed.

"That's the best way to keep doctor Braiser safe, by making the un-sub believe that he was successful in killing her." Gideon responded, looking over at the young doctor and giving him a knowing glance. Spencer once again diverted eye contact the second that it was made.

"You have a complicated life," She responded. Gideon held back a chuckle and smirked,

"Complicated world." Spencer picked up his messenger bag and threw it over his shoulder as they headed out of the office, he was eager to get back to the rest of the team.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be more help." The author sympathized, looking down and rubbing her arms.

"Yeah, me too." Gideon said softly.

"Give the manifesto a little more thought when we're gone," Reid advised as they started to walk out of the office, "maybe something will come to you without the pressure of us looming over you."

"Go over your student lists, any males that were odd or probably had a temper. Maybe one's

that you haven't thought about for years." Gideon advised.

"I'll have my TA pull the files."

"May I ask you something?" Reid inquired, "why didn't you write another book?"

"It was the only story I needed to tell."

xxxx

Caitlyn, Hotch, JJ and Morgan sat at the table in the conference room awaiting for the return of Reid and Gideon. There were boards with evidence and Caitlyn was going over excerpts from the Empty Planet book, nearly not as fast as Reid and with spark notes at her side to help jot her memory. When the door opened none of them looked up from where the other agents walked in until Gideon spoke.

"We need to go over the plot of this book to maybe get a better understanding of the Manifesto."

"I'm already getting started." Caitlyn said, holding up the book and the laptop.  
"Well, Reid probably has it all memorized, you two go and write up the key points on the whiteboard while we look more into victimology and the crime scenes. Both Caitlyn and Reid made sure not to even look at Morgan as they went into the conference room next door to grab a white board.

"Hey, Caitlyn." Reid said, the young blonde looked over at him.

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad you're okay."

"Really?" Caitlyn asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know I just thought… we should just really get started on this." Caitlyn said diverting the conversation from anything deep. Yet another thing that was a habit of hers that didn't always work in her favor. She couldn't get the woman's words out of her mind, _tell him you like him._ But not until the case was over.

xxxx

After getting the key points efficiently on the board the two brought it back into the conference room. Caitlyn was so surprised at how much he was able to remember and the two were able to crack a few jokes and find some time to talk about the mutual parts of the tale that they enjoyed.

"Wait… so Allegro kills his mother?" Gideon asks.

"Yeah at the end he discovers that he's adopted and is reunited with his birth mom and thanks her for having the strength to give him away to live a better life, but ironically he realizes that she herself has become a robot so… he kills her." Reid explained.

"He kills the one person he has a biological connection with for the greater good." Caitlyn added, playing with a pencil.

"Wow," J.J started, "I thought we were talking about some geeky sci-fi book here."

"It's really awesome." Caitlyn said.

"It sounds more like a greek tragedy." Hotch mumbled.

"It's not really a tragedy at all though," Reid corrected, "his mother is incredibly proud of his final act. Like it's the ultimate fulfillment of his destiny. To prove that she was right to have given him up in the first place."

Caitlyn stared at Gideon as she saw the change of his facial expression, it was almost as if you could see a lightbulb starting to go off in his brain.

"If he kills her, how do you know that she's proud?" Morgan asked.

"It's told from her point of view. The whole book is, it's like she's talking to the reader from heaven. " Caitlyn countered.

"The mother… is the narrator?" Gideon asked once more.

"Yeah! It's really her story actually." Reid answered.

"It's the story she needed to tell…" Gideon finally realized.

"And to finish it he needs to kill his mother." Hotch finished.

"Let's go." Gideon ordered as all the agents jumped up.

"Here you go, Robertson." Hotch said, throwing the young blonde a bullet proof vest with FBI printed in bold white letters, she smiled and nodded as the other agents dispersed to get their gear. Caitlyn walked out of the room to where her gun was, while Reid stayed in the room and J.J went to go inform the rest of the police officers what was happening and to make sure to keep it under wraps and to make sure there was no leakage to the media. Caitlyn strapped on the bulletproof vest, same fit, but different lettering and colors that her black SWAT vest. She put her gun in her holster and tied her hair up in a ponytail. Her adrenaline was pumping as it always did before a takedown, a mix of anxiety and excitement swirled through her veins. When she was finally ready she looked up to see the rest of the team in the same uniform ready for the takedown and the young doctor sitting in the conference room in which she had to pass through to get to the exit. She couldn't get out of her mind wha the woman said to her on the roof, and she never was one to think of a takedown going wrong, she always tried to think positive. But before she walked out of the conference room she turned to look at him.

"Hey Spence," he looked up from his papers, "I like you." With that she turned away and jogged to get the unsub. Reid just stared at her even after she left, and J.J returned with two cups of coffee.

"What's wrong with you Spence, see a ghost or something?"

xxxxx

The author of the book was dead. There was nothing that could have been done, no way that she could have been saved. In some ironic way the un-sub had got what he wanted. With this job you couldn't take the small failures with you, you had to focus on the victories. Aboard the jet, Morgan was listening to his usual music while Reid and J.J played cards and Gideon was reading a book.

"Gin!" J.J exclaimed, "I'm beating a genius."

"The genius is letting you win." But in reality his mind was elsewhere. Hotch motioned Caitlyn over and she sat down infront of him, afraid to look him in the eyes.

"What you did with the bomb was stupid." He stated.

"I know, but I couldn't leave that woman up there."  
"I didn't say that you were wrong." Caitlyn breathed a sigh of relief. "Stick around for a couple more cases. We could use someone like you."  
"Thank you so much, sir." she smiled, getting up and moving back to her position in a bucket seat alone in the back of the plane. J.J moved to the long couch like area to lay down and get some sleep and Morgan was instantly in her spot.

"J.J beat you? What's really going on, other than the obvious." Morgan asked, Reid looked around and kept his voice quiet.

"Before you guys went to do the take down… Caitlyn told me she liked me. But she probably meant like, you're a swell dude." Reid deflected.

"Reid if you don't get over there and talk to her right now I'm going to grab you by your ear and drag you over there." Morgan threatened.

"What would I even say?"

"Just do it already." Gideon said, both of the agents surprised he overhead their conversation. The young doctor smiled and walked over to where she was sitting, her head leaning against the window as they flew over the city. Too exhausted to drive they just decided to make the thirty minute flight back.

xxxx

"Hey…um… hi." Reid started, "can I sit here?"

"Yeah, sure." Caitlyn said turning towards him.

"Why didn't you think that I was glad you were okay after incident with the bomb on the rooftop?" He asked, looking down at his hands as she looked directly at him. Do I just tell him? I did blatantly tell him that I liked him before I left and if he hated me he wouldn't be talking to me. So fuck it I guess.

"I don't know," she started, "I kinda thought you hated me."

"What!" his voice raised a pitch but he immediately cleared his throat and went down to a soft whisper, "I don't hate you."

"Well… it just felt like you did. Anytime I tried to talk to you you would blow me off and then you would be nice and then it was like you instantly got cold." Caitlyn began to babble, she paused still looking at him, "and you never look me directly in the eyes." Finally the young doctor looked up and connected his chestnut eyes with her blue orbs.

"They're… really pretty." he blurted out, and Caitlyn smiled.

"If you thought I hated you, why did you tell me that you liked me?" Caitlyn chuckled softly.

"Well when I was on the roof with Dr. Braiser I was trying to distract her and I told her how I thought you hated me and she told me to tell you." Spencer then joined in with the laughter.

"There's a Thai restaurant that's open 24 hours, do you wanna go?"  
"Yeah, definitely."

"Atta boy," Morgan smiled looking at the two smiling agents. Gideon turned in his seat to look at them as well.

"That's going to be really good, or a recipe for disaster I see it already."  
"Aw come on Gideon, why? I never thought that there would be a girl who could keep up with Reid and be able to listen to him babble as long as he does and then want to go somewhere with him. I didn't think there was any human who would want to." Morgan joked.

"Because they're going to fall in love with each other."


	6. Profile Me

**A/N: Here we are again! Honestly I think I'm spoiling those who like this story with so many updates so fast. Thank you to all who have reviewed and favorited and such so far, and you little lurkers out there- come on, drop a girl a review, it's like giving a virtual hug or something. Finally some beginning of a relationship, and then we'll dive into another case! Prentiss will be joining us all very soon and as I've said I really want to build good groundwork before I get to the good good stuff, so stick with me and please review! If I get more than one who knows, I could have another chapter up by tomorrow. I'm off of work today so it's up to you. Alright, let's get it then.**

 *****EDIT: ANOTHER CHAPTER IS WRITTEN AND READY, REVIEW REVIEW AND ITS YOURS!**

 _Slow down, you crazy child. You're so ambitious for a juvenile. But then if you're so smart, tell me why are you still so afraid? ~Billy Joel_

All of the agents filed out of the plane and back into the BAU once they reached Quantico. The mission was successful but yet there was a hint of despair in the air with the lives that anyone on the team thought they could have saved but couldn't. Of course that despair was instantly taken away from a colorful Penelope Garcia standing in the opening of the elevator doors.

"Hi my favorite crime fighters," she began, "and new crime fighter." Caitlyn smiled and gave her a nod as they all made their way into the office, go bags in hand in order to get their case files done.  
"Hello, Garcia." Each one said before sitting down in their chairs in the bullpen, except for Derek Morgan.

"So how was she, was she nice, I know about the bomb on the roof-" Garcia started but Derek held up his hand and she softened her voice, "sorry, I just, you know."

"Yes, I do," Morgan started, "and I also know that she was fine, we're all fine."

"Okay," Garcia nodded, "do you think that she likes green or pink better because I got her a cool Quantico coffee cup as a friendship present."

All of the agents worked on finishing their paperwork quickly as the idea of going home and getting bit of rest before their next case happened lingered on their brains. There was never an exact time to when that would happen. The next case could be weeks, days or wake them in the middle of the night as they were getting their first night of rest in their own beds. Caitlyn typed quickly and efficiently on her keyboard, the idea of going to get something to eat with Reid not leaving her mind as she finally finished up. She looked at her cubicle, new and unpersonalized, not broken into like the rest of the agents who had been there forever.

"Ready to go?" Her thoughts were broken by the young doctor who was standing at her desk, holding the strap of his messenger bag that was over his shoulder. She smiled, standing up and grabbing her jacket and bag as well.

"Yeah, I'm starving." She replied as they pressed the button to the elevator, waiting for it to arrive.

"Hey, you guys both heading home?" Garcia smiled holding files and a cup of herbal tea in her hand.

"No," Reid started, doing what he usually does and missing verbal cues that would make Penelope want to join the two after he told her where they were going, "we're going to get some Thai food."

"Oh! That sounds so good right now, I could definitely go for some tofu curry." Reid's eyes widened and Caitlyn tried her best to hide her smile as the young doctor scrambled for words.

"Well it's not that I don't want you to come with us Garcia it's just that it is open late and so the probability of getting a table at a location that is the only one open among a limited amount of options in a fifty mile radius in a time period tha-"

"Hey, baby girl!" Morgan called, Reid let out a sigh of relief as the elevator doors finally opened.

"Oh, I'll see you two tomorrow, much love." Caitlyn smiled at Reid as the elevator doors closed.

"Very smooth."

Garcia clicked over to Derek looking over her shoulder as the elevator doors closed on the two.

"Yes, chocolate thunder? I was just about to go and get Thai with Reid and Cait."

"Garcia, now I'm going to say this in a very obtuse way and you can not scream and you can not get crazy."

Her voice was almost a whisper. "Why would I get crazy?"

" _They_ were going to get Thai food."

"I don't ge….OH MY GOD!"

Caitlyn and Spencer decided to take the Metro, seeing as though it was so late and he had calculated every route and how long it would take for them to get there no matter what means of transportation that they took. They were in the middle of their discussion about new age Darwinism and the Madonna Whore Dichomy when they arrived at the restaurant. Spencer held the door open for the young blonde, asked for a table of two and they were finally seated.

"Hmmmm…." Caitlyn started as she looked over the menu, noticing Spencer's eyes on her as he didn't even pick his up. She looked at him over the top of her menu,

"Come here a lot?"

"Oh all the time. Any idea what you want?" He asked, she read over the menu as he spat off some statistics about Thailand and the nutritional value of red pepper flakes and how heat can raise the metabolism and be good for the lymphatic system.

"Well, I don't know I'm really bad at making decisions especially when everything looks so good."  
"Or when you're going to blown up by a car bomb on a rooftop." Caitlyn was about to be somewhat offended until she looked up and saw a goofy smile on his face, he was making a joke. Something that was rare but increasing between the two.

"Yeah, exactly." She laughed putting the menu down as the waiter came to take their orders. Spencer ordered an Arnold Palmer and Caitlyn ordered a beer, something she enjoyed after a case and if she didn't have to drive.

"You don't mind, do you?" She asked, when they brought her Stella to the table, the young doctor shook his head.

"So, I guess you're going to be staying around for a couple of cases."  
"Yeah, I guess so. I don't know how much use I'll be. The last case I can understand because there was a bomber and I have a specialty in explosives, but other than my degree's I'm not that much of a profiler." She confessed taking a sip of her beer and eagerly awaiting her food as she watched plates pass by and go to other tables.

"You have a basic understanding of the underlying causes that drive human behavior and that's all it really is, you really did help us on that last case."

"I was really sure that you hated me and I apparently was off." Caitlyn laughed.

"Well I'm a rare breed, I was in college when I was 12. Human behavior isn't always obvious in certain aspects especially when it comes to human attraction and the way each said human deals with the emotion." Spencer said, looking down at the table. It was as if God was helping them because at that time, the waiter brought their food and Spencer asked for a fork for his noodles.

"You have an IQ of 187, and you can't use chopsticks?" Caitlyn teased, twirling noodles around hers.

"Honestly it's like trying to eat with pencils!" The both of them laughed.

"But if you're nervous… try profiling me." Spencer said. Caitlyn shook her head, still chewing a bite in her mouth.

"No way!"  
"Why not?"  
"Because I have a tendency of putting my foot in my mouth and what if I say something that offends you because I'm way off base." Caitlyn countered.

"Just try it." He smiled, Caitlyn for the first time was the one to break eye contact as she stared down at her plate.

"Okay." She began, "You always felt out of place all your life because of your intelligence and being around people who were older than you all the time made you grow up quickly. You were picked on in school which further led you to your education and when you realized that you could use it as a strength you did and you hide behind it. But… there's someone else who made you interested in it, your mother or your father? Who you have a close connection with. But I'm somewhat stuck there, because you don't really have family pictures on your desk. And because you are so intelligent and spend your time chasing serial killers and reading and grew up reading and with that one parental figure, you're smart but missed out on learning some social aspects like verbal cues and obvious things like with Garcia in the elevator."

The young doctor smiled a small smile at her, Caitlyn's eyes instantly widened.

"Or I could be COMPLETELY wrong."

"No, no, you did a really good job." he said softly, "it's my mom, by the way. She has schizophrenia. But don't tell the rest of the team, they don't really know." Reid had never told that to anyone on the team, and had no idea why he was doing it now. Eager to change the topic Caitlyn switched it.

"Alright Spence, profile me."

"You come from a good home, you have one parent, who never thought that anything you did was good enough and taught you to be tough. Which is why you over achieved in school and joined the SWAT unit. You also have a slight form of OCD, I could tell by the way you organized your utensils and the way that you eat your food in a certain order. You're also extremely beautiful- but don't believe it yourself and don't want to use it in a way to gain an upper hand or get anything more than anyone else which is another reason why you joined the unit that you did. And which leads me to believe you're a feminist. And you exude a lot of self confidence even though you really don't have that much at all except for in your abilities." Caitlyn stared at the doctor and nodded.

"My dad."

"What?"

"My dad is the one that never thought anything was good enough. Even now, it's Caitlyn the FBI? Are you the unit chief yet? Whenever I started something I was the head of it in months!" She mimicked the voice of her father which brought both the agents to laugh. She ignored the compliment of him saying that she was beautiful and kept it in the back of her mind.

"I like that you look me in the eyes now." She blurted, maybe the beer was giving her some of that confidence she didn't have. Reid blushed, "do you have to wear those glasses?"

"No not really, I just have my whole life."

"Well you have nice eyes, you shouldn't hide them." Both of the agent's phones buzzed in their bags. Reid groaned a bit, Caitlyn wasn't used to the case calls and didn't know what that entailed when they got a message that soon after a case. Reid picked his phone up and let out a sigh of relief.

"Okay, we don't have a case yet, just Hotch letting us know we don't have to be in until 9:30, which is rare." Spencer explained to her as Caitlyn chewed her food and nodded her head.

"Is it usual that you don't even get to go home sometimes and get cases so soon?"  
"More often than you would think."  
"Well, it's not like I'd be missing out on a whole night at home in bed. I wasn't sure if I was staying so I'm staying at the four star on Bleaker street."  
"The motel?!" Reid asked.

"Hey, it's not that bad it's more like longer than usual short term condos." She smiled. Throughout the dinner they talked more about some psychological theories and about their lives, and when dinner was over Spencer grabbed the bill against Caitlyn's objections. Caitlyn just listened to him chatter quickly on the metro home, not getting annoyed once and taking in his features. When they finally got to her stop she looked at him,

"Thanks for the Thai food."

"Yeah, no problem." he started, "Maybe I could take you on like, a real date? When we have a day off." he felt more comfortable around her after getting to know her, but was still nervous about her response being surprised that he even asked.

"Sure," she smiled.

"And um… I don't know if it's too much but, do you wanna get some coffee before we go into the office tomorrow?"

"Definitely. I'll pick you up, and I'll buy!" she said, the doctor shook his head.

"Not a chance." Caitlyn leaned in close and gave him a tight hug, not wanting to move to fast because this felt like something entirely new and different. "See you tomorrow."

The young doctor had a smile plastered on his face all the way home until he got to bed, counting the hours until the morning.


	7. Perfume

**A/N: So since I was off of work today I had so much time for myself and was just on a writing binger. And I wrote this chapter after writing the last chapter this morning and then I also wrote ANOTHER chapter after this one. I was going to try and get you guys to review more in order to get an update but I just thought I would be nice and spoil you and give you two chapters in one day! BUTTTTTTT I'm going to keep the next chapter to myself and wait until I get some reviews until I post the next one! Days off are nice, getting to write chapters in advance is a nice thing. I have another one Saturday so who knows maybe something good like this can happen again… anyways. Here's the next chapter, please review and thank you to those who already have and the favorites and such! I'm loving writing this so I hope you love reading it. Especially the fluff, I'm such romantic.**

 _I'm gonna paint you by numbers, and color you in. And if things go right, we can frame it and put it on a wall ~Ed Sheeran_

Caitlyn fumbled a little with the key before entering her room, flipping on the light switch to show a monotone set up. A small desk with one chair, a bed and an assortment of boxes with the bare minimums that she would need. When the incident commander told her she would be going to Quantico he didn't tell her how long, so she grabbed what she needed… maybe a little more seeing that she was a girl and females always had a tendency to overpack. Locking her gun in the safe that was provided in the room, she then proceeded to get ready for bed. After taking a shower she sat alone on the hotel bed, no TV on, no radio, a big t-shirt hanging on her frame. It wasn't until then that she realized that she was smiling and hadn't stopped since she got off of the bus. She had a feeling in her stomach that was unsettling… butterflies? It wasn't like she had never been interested in anyone before or gone on dates. But this was different. She's heard plenty of songs about falling for someone in such a short amount of time, and she's seen in the movie the connection that happened instantly and was like fireworks. These were things that she thought were commercial frauds for lonely and hopeless romantics. The couples stories tell and end with "and the rest was history." Or the gaze from across the room, the unexplainable attraction.

It was happening to her. Caitlyn felt like a 15 year old giddy with happiness because the quarterback asked her on a date. With how hard and long she had to work, she had never really been in love, that over whelming, think about you every second of the day love. She heard stories from friends that said they were in love with someone that they only spent a week or a few days with and never found that love again. I guess there is no formula like Spencer had said. She wasn't in love with Spencer, she had just met him and had known him for about a week and a half, but here she was sitting alone in a motel room smiling like an idiot. All she could think about was the way he got so excited and rambled and even when she was bored she didn't want to tell him to stop. The way he smoothed the locks of his brown hair behind his ears. Spencer definitely wasn't her usual type, but there was something unexplainable about the attraction she felt to him. She was somewhat afraid, which was one of the reasons a lot of the times that she didn't get into relationships, the commitment, all of it that made her bail and back off and try and find something wrong so she could distance herself. She looked at the clock, 12:04. Still a little buzzed from her beer she reached over for her phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, did I wake you up?"

"Oh no, I have bad insomnia I was just reading." Spencer replied, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I was just sitting here and couldn't sleep and…" Why was she calling him? She really couldn't wait to see him until the morning?

"What are you reading?" The young doctor obviously didn't mind because the two talked on the phone until Caitlyn inevitably fell asleep with him on the other line.

xxxxxx

Caitlyn looked up at the large menu at the coffee shop,

"Hmmm…" she hummed as she read, Spencer looked over at her, the way her brow furrowed as she read over menus as if she was making a life or death decision when it was really just a cup of coffee. "Do you know what you want?"

"Yes, I'll take a red eye, please." he said to the Barista.

"And I'll take a triple shot of expresso over ice with some milk, please. Oh! And a bagel." Caitlyn ordered, she turned around quickly as she saw the young doctor reach for his wallet and put her hand on his wrist.

"Did you forget I was on the swat team, I know combat, doctor." Reid blushed at the contact and how close her face was to his when she said that.

"Okay, okay." He surrendered as Caitlyn paid for their coffees.

"You drink three shots of expresso? That's your coffee?" Reid asked.

"Yes, asks the man drinking a red eye." she joked, putting cream cheese on her bagel and offering him the other half which he accepted. It was as if the Thai restaurant changed everything. It went from this timid fragile thing between the two of them, and now they were laughing and sharing bagels.

"So… I know we're around a lot of profilers. I think they're going to notice us… if there is an us." Caitlyn started.

"Is there an us?" Reid asked.

"I think there's the beginning of a possibility of an us." she smiled.

"I think as long as we do our jobs and keep it professional in the office there will be no problems. But they're all going to ask-"

"I know what to say, you on the other hand just start spitting statistics or something." Caitlyn winked at him.

xxxx

Both of the agents exited the elevators coffee's in hand and went to their separate cubicles. Taking a chance here and there to take glances at one another. Morgan was at Reid's desk before he knew it.

"Thai food and coffee in the morning? She slept over? Reid you sly dog!" Instantly the young doctor got extremely nervous and started speaking in his normal quick nervous pace.

"We just went out to dinner and then talked on the phone all night and went to coffee, if you could just please not do this I don't even know what it is-"

"Slow down, slow down. I promise I won't pry. But that's good Reid. Have you ever felt like this about anyone before?"

"Never. It's weird, I've been trying to find any kind of official term on it and I'm trying to figure out why someone like her is spending her time on me."

"Stop that right now, you know better than anyone else that the human mind works differently for anyone else and no matter what happened to you growing up, you are just as good as the rest of us. A little annoying but just as good." Morgan assured him and Reid just pushed his lips together in a line and nodded.

"There's a new agent in Hotch's office. What is this bring a stranger to work day?" Penelope asked, coming to the middle of all the cubicles and talking to all the agents.

"So I won't be the new one, rad." Caitlyn said.

"Okay, you just said rad. I like you." Penelope confirmed, resulting in a laugh from Caitlyn. Penelope looked from her to Reid and then back to Caitlyn wanting to bombard them with questions and squeal over the cuteness that she so ever desired on a daily basis and ask her what the young genius was like out of the office.

"We have a case." Hotch said, heading to the conference room all the agents getting to follow him, a young brunette following the unit chief as Caitlyn had done weeks before.

"Everyone this is SSA Emily Prentiss. Take a seat." The young woman took a seat next to Caitlyn who leaned over and whispered to her. Caitlyn saw her holding her things and could tell her entrance to the team wasn't welcomed and her body language proved it as she sat down, she seemed uncomfortable. Maybe Caitlyn was a better profiler than she thought.

"Don't worry, I'm brand new too and you're probably way more qualified than me so… we can be buddies. I'm Caitlyn."

"Alright. I'm Emily."

J.J assumed her position at the front of a series of boards with evidence posted to it.

"St. Louis is in trouble, they have two serial killers on their hands." All of the agents went to take a closer took at the board.

"This killer takes them from public places and dumps them in the woods, we consulted on this months ago after the third murder." Gideon told the team.

"And now it might be up to six." J.J informed, telling about the latest victim.

"No wonder it takes days to find the body the forest is 1.8 million acres and 78 thousand of that is wilderness." Reid stated looking at a map. J.J filled on the victimology as Caitlyn looked over the crime scene photos. The unsub sent a letter signing it as the hollowman.

"So we have two un subs that are trying to out do one another?" Caitlyn asked.

"Sounds like sibling rivalry to me." Morgan said.

"Let's go." Emily was to stay at headquarters, Caitlyn was unsure why and bid her goodbye and told her she would see her when she got back.

After grabbing their go bags and arriving on the plane, JJ passed out manilla folders with the information that they needed in it. They all sat in silence, Spencer's brow was furrowed, his hands curled over his mouth, thumb swaying back and forth wildly.

"What's up?" Caitlyn asked, noticing his deep thought.

"You know there are roughly 30 serial killers in the US at any given time, it's incredibly rare occurrence to have them operating in the same city."

"How many times has that happened?" JJ asked.

"To my knowledge, 3 times," he began, and then continued to explain those instances.

All of the agents started to go over their facts, Caitlyn was always amazed at the way that they worked off of one another and she felt privileged to be able to engage with these great minds. Reid was assigned to look over the letter for psycholinguistics, while Gideon and Morgan went to talk to the families. Caitlyn went along with JJ to talk to the reporter and some of the police staff. They directed the reporter to not talk about the hollow man in order to draw the shooter out. He was communicating with the reporter. News of a missing woman's body was found and Caitlyn was looking another dead body in the eyes. Caitlyn leaned down and used a swab on her lips.

"This lipstick is fresh… and if she was dumped here her hair wouldn't look like this. She's been groomed."

"This isn't about remorse, this is about revisiting the victims."

"Like Ted Bundy, sexual acts with their deceased victims." Caitlyn shuddered.

"Now we know he has a ritual and we'll be here waiting for him."

Yet another shooting, Caitlyn this time was with Reid and Hotch. Gideon wanted her looking at as many crime scenes as possible to understand how to connect it with the personality profiles that they used to create their profiles.  
"You alright with all this?" Reid whispered in her ear.

"Two serial killers on a battle to beat one another, no." She answered looking at the scene.

"No, I mean all the dead bodies, you haven't flinched."

"You don't have to worry about me Spence, ever. I'm good I'm just trying to learn." She smiled softly at him.  
"Alright what do you two see." Hotch asked.

"Two victims at once, thats a first for him." Reid started.

"He chose a different hunting ground," Caitlyn started, "yeah we're in an alley but it's behind an expensive hotel."

"He displayed the newspaper between them." Reid said.

"It's deliberating. He wants us to know he's angry." Hotch answered.

"Angry enough to change his M.O.?" Caitlyn asked.

"Exactly." Hotch confirmed walking away.

"And you said you weren't a profiler." Reid smiled at her, Caitlyn returned the smile and followed their unit chief back to their car.

Caitlyn poured herself another cup of coffee, before going back to look over the crime scene photos. It had been days and she had stayed awake for long periods of time before but this is something she was definitely going to have to get used to.

"You doing okay, little shot?" Morgan asked, making a word play on her age and the previous nickname he had given her.

"Yeah, I can do this. Just some getting used to is all. And I want to catch this son of a bitch."

Reid then came into the room after looking over the writing of the notes of the shooter, informing the team what he had found and began to deliver the profile. The young doctor explained the that the un sub has a job in solitude that may strip him of his identity.

"Or he could be too over qualified and feel that its demeaning him… right?" Caitlyn asked, always nervous to give her opinion and second guessing herself. The young doctor smiled,

"Right." They weren't doing the best job of keeping their connection a secret, atleast not to Gideon and Morgan and anyone else who suspected it. They informed the differences between the two killers, saying how the shooter will be harder to find because he doesn't have any close contact with his victims. While the other is ritualistic and may be charming and handsome to get his victims in his grasps.

Another woman was missing. She fit his type, and had the mil-creek killers M.O. screaming from it. Gideon told them that they had to find the body and wait for him to come back to fit his ritual.

"Sex with a corpse," Caitlyn shuddered, whispering to Spencer as they tried to look over the maps, "now that is getting to me."

Morgan was spitting off his ideas as he thought about the dump sites, finding out that they may not be random. Garcia came to the rescue when they narrowed down the fact that he may be someone who works as a ranger. Caitlyn and the others waited at the station while Gideon and Morgan went to go find the body. Only to have that plan fail because the hollow man intercepted.

"This is just turning into a huge game. Our plan was ruined because of the hollow man?" Caitlyn asked.

"He's alerted the media and injected himself into the investigation." Morgan said of the reporter in regards to the headline, 'Hollowman helps the FBI find victim.'

"He's getting the attention he's been craving." JJ said with an eye roll.

"If he really wanted to get this guy caught he would have called us and not have alerted the media." Morgan said, Caitlyn looked over at Reid watching as he thought, swearing she could see his brain working. Another almost victim was called in and confirmed the man was handsome and was able to give the agents a sketch. Hitch and Reid both stayed looking over at victimology. Caitlyn called Hotch to give him an update.

"You're doing really well, Robertson." Hotch complimented, Caitlyn smiled as she hung up the phone and they headed back to the station.

The three agents were welcomed back by Reid finding the missing piece of the puzzle. Both the killers had been talking for months in the classified ads in the newspapers using code names. Reid grabbed a clicker and began to explain what led him to his discovery, Caitlyn forced herself to focus on the material and not the agent presenting it.

"They're using the names Sunny and Holden… like from Catcher and the Rye?" Caitlyn asked.

"It's a beloved book of psychopaths." Hotch answered "they relate to holden's isolation."

"I read that in highschool…" Caitlyn said to herself under her breath, "sick."

"We understand their relationship, let's use it against them." Hotch smirked for the first time Caitlyn had ever seen him get even close to a smile. The team formulated a plan to do a fake classified AD, with Reid copying the linguistic patterns. Caitlyn looked over his shoulder as he worked.

"Hey, Cait." Reid whispered very quietly, "do you mind if you um… go help Morgan. I'm not easily distracted but you're very close to me and I can smell your perfume…it's um…"

"Say no more, sorry." She said going with Gideon and Morgan to place the fake 'gift' gift of a victim to the hollowman. Taking the bait, the man arrived and Caitlyn held her breath as she waited to see if he was going to follow though with his signature, she second he pulled out the lipstick she botled from the bushes.

"FBI! Dont move!" She yelled pointing her gun at him.

One down, one to go. A press conference set the bait and caught the second killer. Caitlyn sat down to Reid on the plane, both exchanging a smile and a knowing glance as Reid went back to reading his book and Caitlyn listened to her music, leaning her arm close to his to have the most subtle amount of contact as possible. When they finally reached the BAU Prentiss was still there.

"Hi Emily," Caitlyn said "tell me you haven't been here for the past 4 days."

"How did the case go?" She asked.

"Prentiss." Hotch called the young brunette into her office.

"I have to go. Wish me luck." she said turning around.

Caitlyn placed her files on the desk, and looked around for Reid.

"Who are you looking for?" Garcia asked.

"What, I'm not looking for anybody." Caitlyn answered, the young doctor coming up behind her.

"Ready to go?" he asked. Caitlyn looked at Garcia,

"I meant Reid. We carpooled he lives close by where I'm staying." she lied, "see you tomorrow!"

"This might be a little harder than we thought." Caitlyn whispered to him, as they walked into the elevator.

"You know what, I don't even care" The doctor smiled at her.

"You don't?"

"Well as long as we get our work done and don't endanger anyone or blur each other's judgement they can think what they want."

"Wow, alright then." Caitlyn smiled.

"Should we go get something to eat? Or there's a Korean film festival that we can go to, I mean there aren't subtitles but I can translate for you."  
"Yeah, I guess." Caitlyn shrugged, his eyes lighting up at her response. She honestly just wanted to go for some sake and to hear him whisper translations in her ear.

"So freaking cute." Penelope whispered to herself as the elevator door closed.


	8. Eachothers

**A/N: So I'm going to be nice and post this next chapter before I go to work even though I only got one review- but that's because I have the NEXT CHAPTER already done and it's a doozy! So review review, and maybe you'll get it tomorrow ;)**

 _'Cause, baby, I could build a castle_

 _Out of all the bricks they threw at me_

 _And every day is like a battle_

 _But every night with us is like a dream_

 _Baby, we're the new romantics_

 _The best people in life are free_

Caitlyn had now been at the BAU for about two months. Or, five weeks, two days, sixteen hours and forty five seconds according to Spencer. The two had tried their best to keep their small relationship-thing, if you could call it that a secret, but it was definitely hard with a bunch of profilers around. Anytime they weren't on a case or in the office the two were together, getting dinner after cases, coffee in the morning or attending some kind of event that the young doctor had heard about and the young previous SWAT member agreed to go to him with in order to make him happy. There were definitely suspicions from those around them, but they did their work so there were never any problems. They had just finished up a case in Guantanamo Bay and Caitlyn had found herself becoming very close with the agent that became apart of the team after her. Caitlyn was finishing up some case files, excited that they were actually getting a weekend off for the first time since she had joined the BAU.

"So, any plans for this weekend?" Prentiss asked, leaning on Caitlyn's desk, holding a cup of coffee in her hand. Caitlyn didn't take her eyes from the notepad she was writing on.

"No, I don't think so." she answered, still writing vigorously to get closer to her weekend of freedom.

"Not even with Dr. Reid?" Prentiss pryed. Caitlyn stopped and looked up and her, finally laying her pen down. "Well come on Cait, you really don't think I don't notice you two? I'm pretty sure everyone notices. You two show up together at the exact same time, with the same cup of coffee from the same coffee shop. At night you leave at the exact same time, and when the four of us were just on that case I saw the way you two looked at each other." It was true, and Emily was the closest person that she was to at the BAU other than Morgan. It would be nice to have someone to talk to things about, and she felt as though she could trust her.

"Alright Emily, I'm only telling you this because I told you that we could be buddies on your first day and I'm a woman of my word. But please don't say anything to anyone."

"Cross my heart." Emily said, pulling a chair up and scooting closer to her.

"We've definitely been spending time together."

"I knew it." Emily started, "So what's he like out of the office? Is he romantic? Is he good.. you know…" she asked suggestively.

"Well first, we haven't even kissed yet."

"What do you mean!"

"Well I don't know. Its just so different with him, he's exactly the same out of the office but theres something about him that just makes me want to be with him all the time. And with the case load that we get we don't really get the time other than coffee and dinner after work for anything romantic. But he really is so sweet." Caitlyn explained.

"Oh, he's coming over here right now, I'll call you. I'm heading home." Emily waved as the young doctor made his way over. He stopped wearing his glasses recently and Caitlyn liked being able to see him without being hidden behind his frames.

"So," he began, looking at his feet, which meant he was about to ask her something and he was nervous, "remember when I asked you if I could take you on that real date?" Caitlyn looked up at the ceiling and tapped her pen on her chin in deep thought.

"Hmmmm… I don't think I recall…" she started, getting only a blank stare from Spencer. "Yes, I remember."

"Can I take you on that tonight?" he asked, fiddling with the strap of his messenger bag.

"Yeah, I'd like that. I'm almost done, let's walk out together?" Caitlyn asked finishing the last sentence of her report and grabbing her bags. They waved goodbye to the rest of the team and went in the elevator and to Caitlyn's car.

"So I have a plan, I'll come and pick you up." Spencer smiled.

"Okay." Caitlyn cautiously took a small step forward, putting a small amount of space between her and the doctor. He was quite a bit taller than her so she had to almost tilt her head fully up to look him in the eyes. She was almost certain she could hear his heartbeat. Closing her eyes she softy pressed her lips to his. It was like electricity, the softness of his lips, the scent of him was like the pages of new books and coffee. She pulled back slowly and he just stared at her blankly.

"Sorry," she began "I just have been wantin-" she was cut off by Reid placing his hand softly on the side of her face and pulling her in to kiss her again.

"Me too. I'll see you tonight."  
"See you tonight." Caitlyn responded as they both got into their cars grinning like idiots and unaware that Garcia caught the whole thing on the parking lot surveillance camera and was having a miniature heart attack.

Caitlyn still hadn't bothered to unpack her boxes and really wasn't planning on going on a date or really anything that had happened to her in the past couple of weeks. She was able to find a dark red sweater at the bottom of one of her boxes she shrugged and paired it with a pair of black jeans that she tucked into a pair of black ankle high boots that had a small heel on them. She fussed with her hair in the mirror before just adding a couple of small curls to her already wavy locks. He told her that she didn't have to dress super fancy, but she loved doing makeup. She did a simple winged eyeliner, and applied some lipstick before looking at herself in the motel mirror. She was actually surprised at her ability to put something together with what limited amount she had. The rest of her boxes were being sent over, but this would do. She grabbed a black jacket to go over her sweater since it was somewhat cold outside she heard Spencer knock on the door. Caitlyn let out a deep breath before opening and revealing the young doctor, flowers in hand, reflecting the same facial expression as Caitlyn. He was clad in a pair of black pants which laid ontop of his usual converse, a white shirt with a cardigan buttoned a few buttons up with a black jacket over it and a purple tie. His hair growing a little longer and hanging in it's usual fashion.

"Hi." Caitlyn smiled, the young doctor took a second to hand her the flowers.

"Hello. I brought you these, you look very nice tonight." he smiled. Caitlyn couldn't help herself, she leaned forward and kissed him again putting her hand on the nape of his neck.

"Thank you." she said not pulling her body away from his, "I figured now that we've kissed that it's an okay thing to do now."

"Seems justifiable to me." he answered, somewhat pink from the encounter. "Ready to go?" Caitlyn nodded and they were on their way. The car ride was filled with their usual chatter and Caitlyn wasn't allowed to know where they were going no matter how many times she asked him. They finally arrived at the smithsonian. Spencer parked the car and took her hand, this was the first time that they actually really were able to act as a couple, if they even were a couple, they had never made if official or addressed it. Out of the field and out of the office. Caitlyn liked the way his large hands felt, even though she could feel his hands getting somewhat clammy and sweaty, but she didn't mind. He showed her the botanical gardens, giving her facts about the flowers and the museum and Caitlyn listened attentively as she usually did. Finally after walking for a little they found a small bench and both took a seat. Caitlyn stared up at the sky and around at the flowers while Spencer stared at her. When she finally realized that he was looking at her she turned her gaze to him.

"What is it?" Caitlyn asked. Spencer just shook his head smiling a bit.

"You know, I never thought in a millon years that I would be here. My mother always told me that one day there would be a girl who would realize that I was special, and I was pretty sure she didn't believe it herself and was only saying it to make me feel better." he started.

"Really? Why? You're such the ladies man." Caitlyn smirked.

"Seriously," Spencer continued, "I just feel extremely lucky right now. That I'm here with… you. When you walked into the BAU that day I was sure that you would be somewhere with Morgan and I was so nervous I couldn't even look you in the eyes. I'm not the kind of guy that gets a girl like you, or any girl for that matter." Caitlyn turned her body completely towards him.

"You're not the kind of guy who gets a girl like me?" she asked slowly.

"I didn't mean that in an offensive-" he started, getting nervous.

"That's not where I was going. Dr. Reid, you've got me. Do I have you?"

"Yes." he responded, finally understanding where she was going.

"Then it's settled, we're each others." she smiled, Spencer grinned back at her once again grabbing her face in his hands and lightly kissing her on the lips. This time neither of them pulled back, Caitlyn placed her hand on his jawline, deepening the kiss and scooting her body closer to his so that they were touching. She ran the tongue along the his bottom lip as he moved his hands down to her sides, Caitlyn moving both of hers to wrap around and rest on the nape of his neck. Caitlyn felt her heart start to pound and her skin start to heat as she played with the hair on the nape of his neck while she kissed him and he let out a soft moan.

 _bzzzz…..bbzzz….._

Both of the agent's phone's rang in unison.

"No," Reid said, almost breathless as the pulled apart, closing his eyes and resting his forehead on hers.

"We should probably check that." Caitlyn said, pulling her head away from his and grabbing her phone.

"It's from Hotch, it's urgent we need to get to the BAU right away."

"Duty always calls." Reid said, standing up and grabbing Caitlyn's hand, he pulled her in for one more quick kiss before they made their way out of the gardens and to Reid's car.

The text from Hotch said it was extremely urgent so neither of the two bothered to change, Reid stopped by Caitlyn's motel room so she could grab her go bag and they went to the office. All of the agents outfits portrayed where they were when they got the text message, ripped from their weekend plans.

"Well look at you two where were you?" JJ asked.

"We were uh…" Reid started looking at Caitlyn for help.

"Reid, I know, the whole team knows neither of you are in trouble," Hotch said quickly as he made his way into the room, "we have a case it's a big one."

Caitlyn and Reid both looked at each other and the rest of the team who just smiled as they all got into their positions at a round table.

"Let's start with the latest victims, a couple murdered to death after their super bowl party."

 **A/N: If you guys remember the episodes you know whats about to come next and it's going to be very intense and emotional for both Reid and Caitlyn. Please review and I really hope you enjoy and continue to enjoy this I still have so much more to come. Its a beautiful story I have planned for these two. But they're finally a couple, yay!**


	9. Sketchy

**A/N: Thank you to the two who are always reviewing, I see that you people are reid-ing (hahaha get it), but anyways. I'm going to give you the next chapter- because I already have another one on backup. And maybe another... ;) So here it is. And if it ever says Hitch and not Hotch. Blame my Mac, and not wanting to proofread completely. Here goes. So thanks for the favorites, follows and reviews, but come on gimme more!**

Caitlyn tried to get comfortable in her seat, her outfit wasn't necessarily the best for sitting at the conference table. Maybe it was basically more of the embarrassment of your boss knowing the whole time that you and your co worker had been dating and being put on the spot in front of everyone that you work with.

"Honesty it's like as soon as I'm getting my groove on, bam, I'm back at the BAU." Morgan groaned.

"Statistically a case isn't more or less likely to come in when you're out at a party or doing something that you enjoy in comparison to when you're not it's more of a trick of the min-" Reid began before Caitlyn nudged him to stop talking.

"Well whatever good time everyone was having, it's definitely over now." JJ started, coming into the conference room and grabbing her remote, "Georgia, these two were just murdered an hour ago in their suburban home."

"An hour ago?" Hotch inquired, JJ nodded her head,

"The police were on the scene unusually fast."

"Why?" Morgan interjected.

"The un-subs called them and told them that they were about to murder the other victims." Every facial expression changed at that very moment, this was serious. Not that every other case wasn't but this was pretty rare and every agent sitting in that room knew it.

"You're kidding." Morgan said, bewildered.

"According to the dispatcher the first male sounded terrified and was begging them to get there because the other who they both identified as Raphael was about to kill the sinners that lived there." Hello crazy town.

"Sinners?" Hotch spoke up again.

"The dispatchers are going to send Garcia a copy of the tape." JJ confirmed, Reid asked for the exact response time and wrote it down on a notepad.

"Raphael managed to do this." JJ started as she clicked down on her remote showing the crime scene photos. Garcia immediately turned her head away, the technical analyst would never get used to or want to look at the scenes.

"Holy shit," Caitlyn breathed, "he did that in under five minutes?"

"The husband Mr. Kyle is a millionaire there's going to be media covers. And this was left at the crime scene."

"It's a bible passage." Hotch confirmed, reading the passage out loud.

"They're killing sinners, so it has to be mission based." Caitlyn concluded.

"And mission based killers wont stop killing until whatever it is they're after is achieved." Reid finished.

Caitlyn ruffled her hair as she made her way out of the airplane bathroom and changed out of her date clothes and into her work attire. She let out a sigh and opened her case file, joining the rest of the team who were doing the same, no one was speaking. She sat down next to Reid who was trying to focus and noticed when she sat down. No one was speaking on the jet which was a first, she felt uneasy about the circumstances and felt overwhelmed not being as skilled of a profiler with such a crazy case. She felt Reid's hand on her knee as he gave it a small reassuring squeeze, not looking up from his case file.

"This is a bad one, isn't it." She heard Emily ask from a row of seats ahead of them.

"Unsubs with a cause are never good." Derek answered. At that moment, Garcia appeared on the screen with the 911 call that was sent over by the dispatchers. All of the agents gathered around as they heard the first un sub talking about sinners being killed because they had too much stuff. The agents started to spitfire ideas about the unsub. Why was the first one so afraid? Was he doing it against his will? Who was Raphael?

"We need to hit the ground running." Hotch said. He assigned Prentiss and Caitlyn to go look at the wounds on the body at the morgue, JJ to go over victimology. Gideon, Reid and Morgan were to go to the crime scene.

"we land in an hour, try and get some rest." He said.

"That's going to be hard to do." Caitlyn mumbled under her breath as she went back to her original seat, Reid followed beside her.

"Hard to think a couple of hours ago we were in the conservatory." He mumbled. When the plane landed the team dispersed, Caitlyn felt an ache in her stomach as she saw him go to the crime scene and she hopped into the car with Prentiss, she pulled her phone out and texted him, _You've got me._

"So, before we go and see the gruesome of the gruesome fill me in on where you two were all dressed up." Prentiss said, usually they would only be talking about the case, but there was all the could be said with all the information that they had.

"Me and Spencer went to the conservatory at the smithsonian. He brought me flowers and everything made it all date official."  
"Aw, thats so cute."

"Yeah, we're finally a couple, too."

Emily let out a laugh, "like you weren't before?"

"Well like officially okay? I almost died a little when Hotch came in and said what he said. I thought we were hiding it well!" Caitlyn said as they pulled up to meet with ME. The stabs weren't stabs, they were slices on all the major arteries. Caitlyn had never seen anything like it before, but Emily didn't even flinch. Caitlyn couldn't even imagine what the crime scene looked like. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, _we are each others._

 __"So basically we have it narrowed down to anyone who has the knowledge of hunting, farmers, hunters- the whole population of rural Georgia," Caitlyn explained as they walked into the group crowded around the computer. The un sub had posted the murders on the internet. Caitlyn walked up to watch as Reid was looking over the computer in a cubicle.  
"I am so confused, is there a third un sub? There's a completely different voice."

Reid suddenly stood up,

"Agent Franks," he whispered, all of the other agents in the room turned around alarmed at his suddenly soft tone, "does this building have wireless internet?"  
"Yeah, why?" The supervising officer asked.

"This computer's camera is on right now." Reid answered.

"The computer is connected to the internet its steaming a live video feed somewhere." Reid explained.

"Can we trace it?" Caitlyn whispered.

"Maybe Garcia can-" Reid was cut off by the computer making a variety of beeps and technoid sounds. All of the agents gathered around as the screen flashed a message one word at a time

THE ARMIES OF SATAN SHALL NOT PREVAIL.

"It turned itself off." Reid stated. Garcia explained that computers could be controlled remotely from far away, something that is used by tech companies to help with support. The video had also gone viral, making it the most watched thing on the internet. The laptop was going to be sent to Garcia for further analysis.

"Murder is entertainment." Gideon mumbled.

"They probably don't even know it's real." JJ tried to justify, "people see so many images online everyday they probably think it's marketing for a horror film or something."

"Or people are just deranged and disgusting." Caitlyn concluded.

Prentiss grabbed a whiteboard and started to write as all of the team started to spit fire ideas. Caitlyn came in with a round of coffee as she listened and Prentiss wrote quickly.

"What do we have so far?" Caitlyn asked.

"Not enough." Gideon answered. Caitlyn sipped her coffee as Reid stood staring at the board. She walked over and handed him the cup, both of their hands touching and making eye contact, they both stayed for a second before Caitlyn sat back down, the extra contact not noticeable to anyone in the room.

"I have something," JJ said coming into the room, "three months ago there was a prowler reported outside of the victims homes."

"A prowler?" Reid asked, finally something Caitlyn knew that he didn't.

"Someone who is seen sneaking up to peoples houses, we used it as a tactical term and as a strategy when I was with SWAT but we also used it for offenders too." she answered. The prowler turned out to be only one man who couldn't be described, and if it could it wasn't in the case file that they had. But they had a witness.

"Reid, JJ and Robertson go talk to Tobias Hankle, it's a longshot but he could know something." Hotch ordered. Caitlyn nodded and took the car keys, the two other agents following her to the Sedan.

"This looks… sketchy." Caitlyn said as she pulled up to the house. The agents walked up as JJ knocked on the door.

"Mr. Hankle?" she asked as the man looked out from a small crack, Caitlyn raised a brow. He seemed nervous. All of the agents held up their badges,

"We're from the FBI, do you mind if we ask you a few questions?" JJ asked, Caitlyn knew that Reid was onto something he started to bounce as if he was nervous as JJ questioned him.

"Um. It was a long drive over here, do you mind if I use your bathroom?" Caitlyn shot him a glance, this guy had something wrong with him and it was obvious that was not a good idea. She was relieved when he said no and shut the door on them. The three agents walked away.

"Something isn't right about him, at all." Caitlyn stated. "Why bother calling the police if later you're going to say that you didn't?"

"To get a response time." Reid stated, "He called so that he could know how long it would take for them to show." Before Caitlyn or JJ could say anything the young doctor was making his way around the house.

"Reid!" JJ whispered in a hushed tone as he looked through the window where he saw Tobias starting to freak out and a bunch of computer screens. Tobias caught glimpse of Caitlyn and Reid staring in the window and started to take off.

"JJ get back here, he's the unsub!" Reid started, Caitlyn's instincts already had taken effect. Once she saw him running she went into a full stride chasing after him through the barn, she could hear JJ and Reid arguing about waiting for backup but there was no time for that. She was right on his tail and grabbed her gun out of it's holster. Caitlyn lost sight of him once she got into the field, not noticing Tobias coming behind her and knocking her out unconscious.

"Robertson… Robertson! Cait!" Caitlyn tried to sit up, but was instantly pushed back down by the overwhelming force of gravity that she didn't seem to notice before. Her head was pounding, the side of her face and the back of her head throbbed where she had been struck.

"Spencer?" she said, still not aware of what was going on. When she opened her eyes she saw Hotch and Morgan above her, they helped her to sit up.

"Where is Tobias?" Caitlyn asked, "I was right behind him, I had him. He's the unsub."

"We know. He got away. Come on, we need to get you looked at." Morgan said, helping her up.

"Where's Spencer and JJ" She asked.

"JJ is over here, we're still looking for Reid." Hotch said, bringing Caitlyn over to an ambulance where a shaken up JJ was sitting with a blanket. The paramedic tried to get her to sit down.

"I'm fine! I don't need to sit down, I want to go find Reid." Caitlyn objected.

"You have a concussion, sit down. Men are looking." Hotch growled. JJ grabbed onto Caitlyn as she approached, putting her head in her shoulder.

"He said to split up," she started to sob, "I-I…."

"JJ, you don't have to explain." Caitlyn said. Morgan walked over to Hotch after an officer whispered in his ear. He tried to be quiet so Caitlyn couldn't hear. The only thing she couldn't help but hear was,

 _there was no one in the field but it looks like someone had been dragged._

She couldn't cry, she couldn't even move. She wanted to throw up she wanted scream and run and curse everything but her emotions shut off. There was no time for that, especially if she wanted to help Spencer. JJ let out a wail and began to cry into the blanket and Caitlyn stood up stone faced and walked over to Morgan and Hotch, each step agonizing and feeling as though the world had tumbled down upon her and was on her back. Knives daggering at her heart as they looked upon her with empathy,

"What's our next move, we have to find this son of a bitch."  
"Are you sure you're alright to do this?" Hotch asked, JJ still sniffling in the backround. Caitlyn gave him a look that made Hotch's resting glare look inviting.

"Im. Fine." she lied, "Let's go."


	10. Now You're Stupid

**A/N: Hello there again! As I promised I would give an update, we got some new reviewers! Hi there and thank you! And I can't keep saying thank you because I love this story a lot and really want you all to like it to! Yesterday was my day off and I just churned out TWO chapters ahead of this ;) when they're yours depends on you! Muwahaha.**

Caitlyn couldn't believe this was happening. They searched the corn fields for hours trying to find where Tobias dragged Spencer. When they realized that it was a dead end, Hotch made the decision for all of the team members, including Garcia to set up base in Tobias's house. If there were any answers they were going to be in that house and there was no use in going back and forth from the house to the field office. Hotch explained this to Garcia when she arrived carrying an oversized suitcase behind her. Caitlyn hadn't slept all night, she couldn't. All she could think of was getting knocked out in the field. Why didn't he take her? Why did he have to take him? She was more qualified for situations like this, Reid was so sensitive and delicate- she couldn't even think about it. She didn't even want to be in the house, every single thing about it reminded her that her boyfriend was somewhere and could possibly be- no, she couldn't even think like that.

Another thing that made it worse was the way that all the other agents looked at her. They expected her to be an emotional mess, giving her empathetic looks as she was stone faced looking through the case files. If one more person asked if she was fine she was going to snap.

"Hey," she heard Garcia say softly, "are you okay?" There it was. Caitlyn looked up at her in a monotone voice and responded,

"I'm fine." she answered getting up to turn around but was stopped by a box that Garcia put out in front of her.

"I brought you a box of macaroons, I know that they're your favorite because I see that you keep a box of them in your desk and Reid always-" Garcia stopped herself, "I'm sorry." God damn it Garcia, being all kind and Garcia-y.

"No, it's fine. Thanks." Caitlyn said grabbing the box and putting it by her stuff.

"Welcome to our nightmare." JJ said to Garcia.

"This computer is an extension of his brain, I need you to dissect it." Gideon ordered her, Morgan offered to take her to show her where she needed to set up.

"Nothing new since I left?" Hotch asked.

"The good news is this guy practically documented every second of his life, the bad news is, we're still un piling." Emily explained, while Caitlyn was in the process of reading over the psychobabble.

"He hasn't left this place in years." JJ said softly, still disheveled and showing more signs of the trauma that she had been put through and her emotions while Caitlyn did the complete opposite. The second she showed one bit of emotion she knew it would all come crumbling down and she had to focus because this would be the kind of thing that would get them separated form the team.

"He believes that god is on his side, every single time he comes in contact with the police he gets away with it." Caitlyn said, "and he isn't on ours."

Garcia and Morgan were going over the computer programmings as the rest of the team went through the things that Tobias had on his computer. Caitlyn and Prentiss found something from a narcotics anonymous meeting but it looked to be about 12 years old. Gideon found latin written on the walls that was hidden under wallpaper. JJ wasn't doing to well, she was having flashbacks about the dogs that were attacking her and almost shot Prentiss when she came to check on her. Classic signs of PTSD. Prentiss decided to get JJ out of the house to help get her mind off of things, Caitlyn refused to stop working.

"You know there's nothing that you could have done to make this different." Gideon said scaring Caitlyn a bit as she was trying to look through the house and find anything that could lead her to Reid. There was always something about Gideon that made it so that you didn't lie to him, it was as if you couldn't lie to him. He had a gaze that was life a concerned father.

"There's so many things that I could have done different. I had him, Gideon, I was right behind him. I have caught and taken down so many guys like that before and he…" she stopped still wincing at the pain, "he knocked me out. He had a cheap shot and he took it."

"That's not what this is about, it isn't about you. We know you're afraid for Reid, we all are. But he's smart, he's going to be okay."

"Are you trying to convince me, or are you trying to convince yourself." Caitlyn breathed. When JJ and Prentiss returned from the group, the told the rest of the team what they had found. They found out that Tobias was addicted to dilaudid, which was probably the cause of his psychotic break and why he was living as three people.

"This could be bad news a computer store was robbed in the middle of the night," an officer said but their attention was broken by Garcia.

"Oh my god, guys! Guys!" she cried, all of the agents running into the room.

"Guys get in here!" Morgan called, all of the agents filed in but Morgan stopped Caitlyn in the doorway, "I don't know if you want to see this."

"Morgan, get out of my way." she growled. He was right, she didn't want to see this. On the screen the young doctor was tied up to a chair, it was obvious that he had been tortured. Caitlyn's face stayed stone still but it felt like she was going to throw up. She wanted to run out of the room throw herself on the floor and cry.

"He's been beaten." Prentiss exclaimed.

"Can't you track it?" Caitlyn asked.

"Tobias is only steaming this to his home computer." Garcia said horrified.

"This is for us, he knows we're here." Gideon confirmed.

Caitlyn put her eyes away from the computer, she felt Emily's arm on her back, she shook it away. It was like when someone was going to give you a hug when you were on the verge of tears, and their hug would bring you to a full breakdown of tears. Caitlyn didn't want to watch, her heart was in her throat. The computer screen went blank, Morgan stormed out of the room and Caitlyn just stared at the screen.

"Robertson are you sure that you're able to continue with this?" Hotch asked.

"Yes, I'm just gonna get some fresh air. Come look back at this with some fresh eyes." She answered going out into the backyard, staring up at the night sky. She clicked through her phone to the last text message that he sent, ' _we're each others'._

Then it happened, it was like there was a brick on her chest and she couldn't breathe, if she could she would be hyperventilating. She placed her hands on the top of her head, closing her eyes together to stop the fall of tears and arched her back letting out a deep breath.

"Cait," she heard Morgan and Prentiss approach behind her, and she whipped her head around quickly trying to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"You guys, I'm okay, I'm just trying to think."  
"We know you're not okay and it's fine." Emily said quietly.

"No, I can't be weak I have to be strong this is the kind of thing that would make us unfit to be able to work together. He knocked me out first he should have taken me." Caitlyn said, finally letting some of the tears fall down her face and grabbing at her chest. Morgan rushed forward and pulled her into a hug, Emily rubbing her back.

"Morgan, I love him," she sobbed into his shoulder, "I didn't tell him."

"You're going to get to tell him, we're going to find him." Caitlyn looked up and him and wiped her tears with the backs of her sleeve.

"I want his head on a stick." She said, finally slowing down her breathing. "I'm going to come back in once I don't look like I cried please don't tell anyone about this." she said and both the agents nodded, leaving her to think until she looked composed and walked back into the house.

The last murder was posted online and JJ was relentless in wanting to see it, Caitlyn saw her changing before her eyes. Morgan, Prentiss and Caitlyn looked through Tobias's whole life. It was easy to see what was going on, their whole family tree was posted throughout the whole place. Caitlyn was dying every single second that he was away from her. Caitlyn looked into the computer screen, she knew that she was on camera.

"Spence, if you're watching this you're not responsible you understand me?" Reid instantly started to bawl at the sight of her face.  
"He's perverting god to justify murder." Gideon added.

"You are stronger than him Spence, he can not break you." Caitlyn added before the feed cut off.

They were all in separate rooms when Garcia called them in, this time Hotch stopped her at the door and refused to let her in.

"What is happening Hotch! What is happening let me see!" Caitlyn growled, unknown that Reid was unconscious and Tobias was trying to get him back to life. Caitlyn broke though and saw Reid lying dead on the ground, still stone faced. She was about to literally throw up this time, she took a step back and luckily there was a desk able to catch her and she leaned up against it, until she heard him breathe. She tried to listen to anything that would be a clue. Tobias tried to get him to pick someone to die, holding a revolver at his head. This time, Caitlyn had to turn away and not watch, when she heard him speak the words,

"Kill me." God damn it Reid, don't be a fucking hero. Tobias held a rifle to his head and stung the barrel, and the young doctor didn't flinch each time he pulled the trigger. The young genius stared him in the eyes until he gave him an ultimatium. One of the members on his team, other than him was to be killed. Until he chose Hotch, calling him a narcissist and quoting revelations, all of the agents looked at him. Hotch ran into the room,

"I'm not a narcissist," he said,

"Don't take it personal Hotch." Gideon said. The unit chief smiled,

"What are my worst qualitites. Don't worry you won't get in trouble."

"You can be a drill sergeant."

"You have no sense of humor."  
"Right," Hotch smiled widely, "but would you ever say I put myself before anyone else on this team?"

"No," Caitlyn said slowly, "but you barely ever smile and you're really smiling a lot now so I'm starting to think you're a bit narcissistic."

"No, I'm not. Reid and I argued about the definition of classic narcissism and he knew that I would remember that and he also quoted something wrong, he wouldn't get it wrong unless it was on purpose."

"He's in a cemetery." Morgan said. Turned out that there were no cemeteries near by and they had to go back over the first footage of Reid that they had seen, "I wont choose who will be slaughtered." Were his exact words,

"See if there are any slaughter houses near by, or slaughtering" Caitlyn commanded.

"There's a cemetery on these grounds," Garcia confirmed. Caitlyn ran to get her gear on, it was like she couldn't get her bulletproof vest on quick enough.

"Don't go be pulling any hero shit little shot." Morgan said.  
"I had him Morgan. You're not the only one who can chase after the bad guys and kick doors down anymore." Caitlyn said finally making a joke, "this bastard is mine."

All of the team busted into the cemetery,

"Ah what's that smell!" Caitlyn said, the cemetery and the stench of dead animals overwhelming her senses.

"They have to be on foot, let's go!" Morgan commanded, Caitlyn ran behind him when she heard a gunshot.  
"REID!" Morgan called out as they ran toward the gunshots.

"There he is!" Hotch said, Caitlyn ran as fast as she could towards him, when she got there Hotch was helping the young doctor up. Spencer was holding onto their unit chief tightly,

"I knew you'd understand." he sobbed.

Caitlyn finally allowed herself to feel the emotion, she fell to her knees holding her head in her hands sobbing uncontrollably as he still held onto Hotch. Reid made his way over to Caitlyn, falling to his knees infront of her. She looked up and him and grabbed onto him so tightly, afraid that she would break him.

"I love you, Spencer Reid. I love you so fucking much." Caitlyn sobbed.

"I love you too," he cried back, kissing her between her words.

"I'm sorry I left you I shouldn't have done that." Caitlyn cried, the rest of the agents looking at the two as they grabbed onto each other.

"That was so stupid I was so stupid." she cried. The young genius placed his hand on her face, finger lightly touching the bruise from where she had gotten knocked out.

"You're face, are you okay?" he asked, Caitlyn scoffed.

"Now you're stupid." they both were able to laugh a small amount between their tears, "I'm sorry."  
"It's not your fault. I'm okay."  
"I wanted it to be me instead of you."

"I'm okay, Caitlyn. We're here together, we have each other."

"I thought I'd never get to tell you." she said as Spencer wiped the tears from her eyes, Caitlyn stood up and helped him to do so as rest of the team started to make their way to the sedans, Reid looked over at Tobias's body.

"I'll meet you at the car I just need one moment alone." he said, Caitlyn nodded and walked to the car, Morgan put a hand on her back and gave it a light pat.

"You were strong," he said to her as she was still crying to the car, she was so relieved it was hard to stop crying, JJ was doing the same as Spencer went and grabbed the Dilaudid out of Tobias' pockets.


	11. Trying and Lying

**A/N: I already started on the 13th chapter and even though I only got one review, I really just want you guys to see these chapters! So here you go! The next one I'm going to keep until I get at least more than one review! I hope that you like how I'm treating this! I want to stick to as much of the original as I can because why mess with perfection. Enjoy!**

 _It's nothing to cry about_

 _Cause we'll hold each other soon_

 _The blackest of rooms_

 _If Heaven and Hell decide that they both are satisfied_

 _Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs_

 _If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks_

 _Then I'll follow you into the dark ~Death Cab for Cutie_

Caitlyn stayed with Reid every second that she could. Before they could return home to Virgina, he had to be taken to the hospital to make sure that he was in good condition to fly and didn't suffer any kind of injuries that would take a long term affect on his health. The rest of the team waited for the two as Caitlyn sat in the hospital room with him as the doctors ran tests. The Dilaudid was still in his system and Spencer kept putting his hand on the crook of his arm where he was injected. There was no internal bleeding, and he was given instruction to get some rest and take some antibiotics to make sure that none of his wounds would get infected. He sat on the edge of the hospital bed, out of his dirty clothes and into new ones that he had in his go bag, waiting for the doctor to come back with the prescriptions. Caitlyn stood from the chair that she was sitting in, going to stand infront of the young doctor who was looking at the ground.

"Hey," she said softly, placing her fingers under his chin to softly raise his glance to hers, but the second their eyes met he began to cry. In response, the blonde agent began to cry as well. She couldn't imagine what he was going through, he would probably be tormented by nightmares and was put through hell. She felt worn out and exhausted from the whole ordeal and she didn't experience even close to half of the brutality. "It's going to be okay. You were so brave." The young doctor nodded his head and the doctor came in to give him his prescriptions.

When Caitlyn and Spencer arrived to the jet, the whole team tried to make light of the situation to make Spencer feel better, and he tried his best to let them know that he was okay.

"I'm going to live, I'm fine, really." He repeated over and over again. The second the plane took off he fell asleep with his head in Caitlyn's lap. She rested her hand over his head and played with strands of his hair. Hotch came and took a seat infront of the two, speaking softly to not wake the young doctor sleeping on her lap.

"I know, Hotch. I shouldn't have ran after the un sub without backup, I shou-" Caitlyn began but Hotch just held up a hand.

"That's not what I was going to say. Reid is going to need atleast a week or two off, and I want you to take the time off with him. It isn't a punishment," The unit chief said looking down at the young doctor, "he's going to need you." Caitlyn nodded, looking down at the beaten and bruised agent in her lap. When the plane landed everyone looked as if they had been to hell and back.

"Alright, Reid, get some rest buddy." Morgan said. JJ gave him a long hug, along with Garcia and Emily. Caitlyn smiled at the rest of the team as they got into her car and she began to drive him home. She pulled up and put her car in park, walking the young doctor to his house and opening the door with the key.

"Caitlyn," he breathed, looking at her, "will you stay with me?" Each time he looked at her all she wanted to do was cry and sob, he was there with her but her heart broke with the bruises that she saw and the bruises that she didn't see. She nodded and told him to go lay down while she made him a cup of tea.  
"Uhm, can I wear like a shirt or something?" She asked, not having anything else but what was in her go bag which was all dirty.

"In my top drawer." she fumbled through and found a large oversized Cal-Tech T shirt and slipped it on, before grabbing the teapot off the stove and pouring him a cup of tea, handing it to him as she got under the covers.

"I never thought in a million years that I would have a really pretty girlfriend spending the night wearing my cal-tech t-shirt. All the other guys I went to school with would never believe it." Reid joked.

"Are you ok?" Caitlyn asked, "And I mean are you really okay. I know that Tobias drugged you."

"I'm fine!" Reid snapped, getting defensive when she brought up the drugs that were in his bag hanging a couple of feet away from them. Realizing that he had blown up he softened his voice, "I'm sorry, I'm just tired and yes I'm fine."

"Okay." Caitlyn answered, knowing that he was lying. She was getting better at profiling and noted his reaction to her bringing up the dilaudid.

"Well, we basically have a little mini vacation." she said sliding under the covers as Reid finished up his tea and put it on the night stand beside the bed. "We can do whatever you want to do, watch every season of Dr. Who, I can try and make breakfast in the morning-" she instantly backtracked knowing that she wasn't the best cook. "-I could grab us breakfast in the morning." The young doctor was already passed out asleep before she could even finish the sentence. Caitlyn kissed him on the forehead and curled tightly into him, taking in the scent of his musk of coffee and books that she never thought she would smell again and fell asleep herself. She was awakened by Spencer rumbling around in the kitchen.

"Good morning!" he said cheerily. This was not the same person that was crying in her arms the day before.

"Good morning?" Caitlyn asked, suspicious of his upbeat behavior. And what was that smell… waffles? "Are you cooking breakfast?"

"Yeah, I woke up early and started to read and was going to make you breakfast in bed but you woke up before me." He smiled as Caitlyn stretched standing up out of the bed. She knew something was up. Deluded like any other opiate caused euphoria, reduced anxiety and other effects that someone would get from a morphine drip. This was not the usual behavior for someone who had just been tortured and almost killed. Caitlyn's father was an alcoholic and she didn't want to make him feel attacked or cornered, she knew that he was high. So she swallowed the lump in her throat and smiled.

"There better be chocolate chips in those."

Throughout the next week or so, Caitlyn spent the night at Spencers apartment every night. She tried to ignore when he would sneak away or go into the bathroom and come out less anxious than usual, and she knew that there was nothing that she could do or say right now. He would shut down at some moments and would snap at her sometimes but immediately apologize afterwards. Other than that she was enjoying the time that she was able to have with him.

"So, we're going to have to go back to the real world soon." Caitlyn said, her head in his lap as he was reading out loud to her. Something that the couple had grown accustomed to doing.

"Not technically." Spencer said.

"What do you mean?" Caitlyn asked, sitting up and crossing her legs to look at her boyfriend. He looked over at her and cracked a small smile,

"We could have our own little world." he said, Caitlyn wasn't so sure if he was really high and going off on a tangent like he had done once or twice. The drug use killed her, but she didn't want him to push her away.

"What do you mean?"

"Well you've been here with me every day for almost two weeks, all of your stuff is basically almost here, and I really don't like you living in that motel." he started.

"You want me to move in with you?" Caitlyn smiled, "I don't know if you'd like me anymore after being around me at work and at home all the time."

"I want you to." he said, looking at her deeply in the eyes, pupils fully dilated, she looked away quickly but then leaned in to give him a kiss.

"Okay." she said, and the young doctor handed her a house key.

"So you planned this and knew I would say yes?"

"I didn't know but I was hoping you would." he smirked. Caitlyn kissed him one more time.

"I love you." she said, a twinge of sadness in her heart.

"I love you, also."

The alarm went off for the two agents to finally return back to the BAU. Caitlyn was nervous to how Spencer would react, but there was nothing that she could do. She walked over and helped him fix his tie.

"Are you ready?" she asked and the young doctor nodded and they made their way to the office. They were welcomed warmly,

"Welcome back." Gideon said to the two, Garcia ran up to give them both bear hugs. Reid went over to talk to Hotch and Emily approached Caitlyn.

"How's he doing, really?" she asked, Caitlyn didn't want to say anything about his drug use, this was something that could cost him his job, no matter how bad she wanted to get him help.

"As good as someone in his position could do." she responded as the team rounded up for their first case. Three men were killed in Houston, and the team was on it's was immediately after they wrapped up the details. Reid sat by himself on the plane as Caitlyn looked over the case files with the rest of the team.

"I'm going to set up a geoprofile to see if any of the victims came into contact with one another," Reid started.

"I can help you with that." Prentiss volunteered,

"I can handle it." Reid snapped back. All of the agents turned their gaze in his direction.

"I wasn't suggesting that you couldn't…" Prentiss responded.

"Well isn't that what it means?"

"Reid," Hotch snapped "Prentiss will help you with the geographical profiling and the victimology. Robertson you'll be coming with me to the field office." Emily looked over at Caitlyn who made sure not to look up from her case file. Reid was being extremely volatile and Caitlyn hated seeing him with this attitude and she knew all the other agents were picking up on it. After looking at the crime scenes and such the team was gathered around in the conference room, JJ entering with cookies in her hand.

"Are those cookies?!" Caitlyn asked excitedly, JJ nodded, one already in her mouth.

"One of the officer's wives made them for us, I guess that's what they mean by southern hospitality." JJ imitated a southern twang.

"What are you saying?" Reid asked over the sound of the construction outside. He ran over and closed a window with force, "How can anyone get any work done with all this noise."

"You're going to have to get used to it, there's construction all over here." Caitlyn stared at him wide eyed, chewing a cookie as she said so. Reid was looking over the map, scratching at his chin. Caitlyn noticed that he hadn't dosed up in a while, and he was showing signs of it. They found out that the un sub may be homeless, Hotch assigned Prentiss and Reid to go look at homeless shelters.

"You okay with that Reid?" Prentiss poked, Reid furrowed his brow.

"Yes." he grumbled. All of the agents looked at Caitlyn as he left she just diverted her gaze as she always did, not knowing how to explain his behavior.

"Caitlyn, I need to talk to you." Emily said as she busted into the precinct. Caitlyn stood up and followed hereunto the hallway.

"What is Reid's deal?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Caitlyn said, trying to act like she didn't know what was going on.

"There is something the matter with him. He is hostile, he has no concern and was somewhat reckless when we were interviewing the woman at the homeless shelter." Emily spat.

"I don't know what to tell you," Caitlyn said biting her lip, "It's probably just PTSD."  
"Bullshit Caitlyn." Emily whipped. They were interrupted by a little girl running in, her dad being attacked by a homeless man. Emily was able to talk to her in spanish and the man was going to be okay. The young girl was able to give them information that the un sub wasn't aware of what he was doing to the girl and her father that he attacked. Caitlyn tried to figure out the missing piece but the pressure of keeping Reid's secret and playing down his outbursts was putting stress on her, in addition to watching the man she fell in love with act like a complete stranger. It turned out that the un sub was a military officer whose convoy was ambushed and he was suffering from the most severe form of PTSD, and still believed he was under attack, a dissociation that was caused by an explosion on a building nearby when he was changing a flat tire. Someone in his convoy was able to get a location on him.

"Robertson we're going to need you to take a lead on this, we're going to have to try and negotiate and use a very detailed tactical take down plan in order to get him alive, he's had a lot of military experience." Gideon said, as all the agents started to suit up.

"That mean we're calling in my boys?" Caitlyn smirked, referring to the swat team.

"Yes, they're meeting us at the scene." Hitch responded as they all went to head out, Caitlyn stopped to look at Reid before she left.

"Be careful," he mumbled looking down at the ground.

"Are you serious?"

"Well _your boys_ are going to be there, you'll be fine." he said sarcastically.

"Spencer you've got to be kidding me you're mad about that? Honestly I know that you're going through a lot but you need to pull it together or you're going to lose everything." Caitlyn snapped back, "What if something happened and this was the last time you saw me?"

She turned away to go meet the rest of the team and to go get the un sub. He was killed in the takedown, there was nothing that could be done. Caitlyn cursed under her breath.

"So how do you like the BAU Miss FBI?" Her old unit chief asked.

"It's… different."

"Well I knew you'd do okay. You always do. We miss ya."

The plane ride back to Quantico was silent, Caitlyn knew what was going on with Reid and she didn't want to be mad at him. It made her feel like a bad person despite what he was going through. When they walked into their home she immediately went to the bathroom and took a shower, changing into a pair of shorts and his Cal-Tech t-shirt that she had grown to love. Reid was sitting on a chair flipping through a book as Caitlyn sat on the edge of their bed, putting her head in her hands and threading her fingers through her blonde locks. She felt Spencer come behind her.

"I'm sorry." he said, placing a hand on her back. She wanted to yell at him, she wanted to scream and tell him to stop hurting himself. But the situation was so delicate she knew that she couldn't. She turned around to look him in the eyes.

"Spencer, please. Whatever you're doing, please stop it." she pleaded.

"I'm not doing anything." he got defensive again.

"You're not acting like yourself, you're edgy you were so mean to Emily, and it's not you. I know you're hurting and I love you and I just don't want you to lose yourself. Stop pushing us all away from you." But what she really wanted to say was stop with the Dilaudid.

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her on the forehead,

"I'm trying."


	12. Katrina

**A/N: Alright! I got more than one review, and honestly I feel selfish keeping these chapters from you when I have them on backup. So thank you for those who reviewed and please keep them coming! I'm going to make it higher than one review for the next update! The next chapter can be yours, just tell me what you're thinking! Enjoy!**

 _Lately I really, feel like I'm rolling for delf like Philly,_

 _feel like I'm losing control of myself, I sincerely_

 _Apologize if all that I sound like is I'm complaining,_

 _But life keeps on complicating, and I'm debating,_

 _On leaving this world, this evening, even my girls_

 _Can see I'm grievin', I try and hide it,_

 _But I can't, why do I act like I'm all high and mighty,_

 _When inside I'm dying, I am finally realizing I need help._

 _can't do it myself, too weak, two weeks I've been having ups and downs,_

 _going through peaks and valleys, dilly dallying,_

 _round with the idea of ending the shit right here. ~Eminem_

New Orleans had endured one of the greatest natural disasters to have ever hit the United States, Hurricane Katrina. Before the storm, there were murders in the French Quarter, until the storm. The New Orleans PD believed that the killer was killed in the storm, until another body was found, and the team was called in. The victim had the same M.O, even though the un sub had an unusually long cooling off period. Caitlyn looked at Spencer next to her at the round table, she could just see on the look on his face that he wasn't in the right state of mind. Ever since the fight he was trying to not snap at her and she was trying to be as supportive as she could. The rest of the team was noticing as well. She just wondered how long she could play it off as PTSD from his abduction. All of the team got onto the jet within thirty minutes. Caitlyn was looking over the letters that were sent to one of the officers, Will from the un sub until she heard Morgan speak up.

"Hey Reid, what's going on up there?" he asked, observant of the young doctor deep in thought.

"I was just thinking about an old friend of mine from Las Vegas, Ethan. I'm pretty sure he lives in New Orleans now."

"Really? You gonna give him a call?" Morgan followed up.

"We were competing against each other in absolutely everything, spelling bee's, science fairs, we both even had our hearts set on joining the bureau… but he dropped out the first day at Quantico."

"He probably couldn't take the heat." Prentiss smiled light heartedly.

"That's probably not for us to judge is it?" Reid quaffed, Caitlyn shot him a glare.

"Right… my bad." Prentiss said softly, giving Caitlyn a gaze. JJ broke the tension by giving out the information needed prior to 2005, that was the only thing that they had to work off of. The only thing the victims had in common were that they were men walking in the french quarter, which wasn't anything out of the ordinary. The agents had to start at square one. When the team got to the crime scene the head officer was there to meet them.

"Well you must be the BAU. I'm Will LaMontagne." he said.

"I'm Jennifer Jareau, we spoke on the phone." she said hurriedly, introducing each of the team members. Caitlyn raised a brow as she saw a shift in his body language and a difference in her lingustics as JJ spoke, there was definitely something going on there. William told them about the letters over the crime scene, there was a detailed account on what happened to the body. Reid and Prentiss were looking at the bodies as the rest of them looked over the crime scene. Will then took them to the house of his father, _Jones_ was carved into the wall. It was the last thing that he did before he died. Caitlyn kept looking at the interactions between William and JJ, trying to find any indicator on what was going on between the two. When they arrived back at the station, Hotch was looking over the letter that was sent to Will.

"Something about this looks oddly familiar. The use of Boss, the way the victims were killed… sounds like… Jack the Ripper." Caitlyn said.

"And the un sub wants us to believe he's the modern day Ripper."

Before they knew it there was another body they were looking over. This gave them enough to deliver the profile. Jack the Ripper was a lust murderer, the difference between him and the un sub was that he is calculated and believes that he relates to Jack the Ripper because of his isolation. When they were done delivering the profile Caitlyn walked to the conference room where Reid was sipping on a cup of coffee.

"Spence," she said softly, he jerked around quickly as if she startled him.

"I think I'm going to visit Ethan." he said, looking down.

"In the middle of a case?" she asked stepping closer to him.

"Yeah, I just… feel like I need to." he said. Caitlyn couldn't tell if he really was going to see his friend or if he was just going to get another fix. She leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips, nodded and walked away to go help the team on the rest of the case.

 _Reid's Point of View_

Reid walked though the French Quarter, his old friend in his sights. He was always one step ahead of him and loved to give anyone a good scare so when he popped out from the corner and earned a jump from his old companion he couldn't keep the wide grin from spreading across his face.

"Spencer! You scared the hell out of me." he said.

"I've always been one step ahead of you man."

"Yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night." he said with an eye roll, "I'm glad you called, it's good to see you."

"You too." Reid smiled as Ethan patted him on the back.

"Let's get a drink." he said, grabbing him by the shoulder and leading him into a small jazz bar. They leaned against the mahogany bar top, standing side by side.

"So are you going to ask the question?" Ethan inquired, Reid furrowed his brow.

"What question?"

"We haven't talked to each other in years, and then you call me, ask the question." he said, popping a piece of bar trail mix into his mouth.

"Why did you quit after one day of FBI training?" Ethan smiled knowing thats exactly the question he was going to ask, he leaned over and picked up his scotch, swirling it in the glass.

"Well I'm sure you've considered the evidence, evaluated the signs, what's your theory."

"You were battling your own demons and didn't have the time to analyze someone else

s." Reid answered

"Very good, those days I did prefer Jack Daniels to Jeff Dalhmer." Ethan raised his glass as Spencer's phone rang in his pocket. He looked and saw that it was Emily and ignored it.

"Let me ask you this, do you ever regret it?"

"I may not be changing the world but my music makes me happy. It doesn't take a profiler to see that you're not." Ethan said making his way over to a pair of chairs, Reid followed.

"It's not easy. And I am happy, I have a girlfriend, but I can't believe some of the things I've seen." Ethan let out a loud laugh.

"You have a girlfriend! I can't believe that!" Spencer laughed sarcastically in response. He opened up his phone and showed him a picture of the two of them at the office that Garcia had taken. Caitlyn had her arms wrapped around his waist hugging him tightly and he had a large grin on his face.

"Wow, she's beautiful. But man… you look like hell."

"I'm fine." Reid countered.

"I'm a jazz musician in New Orleans I know what it looks like when someone's not well." Reid grabbed at his arm where he had been injecting himself, Ethan continued.

"This may be the one time I can tell you something that you don't already know, it might help you forget but it won't help it go away. And from what I can tell you're surrounded by some of the best minds in the world if you think they don't notice, well for a genius, that's just dumb." He took a sip of his scotch, "and that girl of yours, she definitely knows. Even if she doesn't say it. And it's probably hurting her more than it's hurting you."

xxx

Caitlyn boarded the plane last, Morgan and Prentiss sitting waiting as they were going to interview the fiance of the last victim.

"Where's Reid?" they asked.

"I called him ten times." Emily added. Caitlyn just shrugged her shoulders,

"We're gonna have to leave without him."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

When they finally got to the fiance, they didn't find anything unusual in the group of friends except that they would party with anybody. The friends didn't see anything and traveled in a pack. Until Morgan put two and two together. He used a lion and antelope analogy, both Caitlyn and Emily didn't understand at first.

"That's because neither of you have ever been the antelope. The lioness waits until one of the antelope break away from the pack and then she strikes." Morgan explained.

"So our un sub is a woman." Emily breathed. The un sub waited for the man to get away, this un sub was a woman and was luring men to their deaths. This would be the only thing to get a straight man away from his friends. Caitlyn, Emily and Morgan all made their way back to New Orleans and were looking over the case files when Reid came into the room.

"You guys are back." he stated.

"First flight this morning, where were you?" Morgan asked.

"Out with a friend I told you guys that." Caitlyn winced internally at his tone.

"I called you four times." Emily said sternly.

"I didn't have any cellphone reception so I didn't get your message until today."

They told Spencer that the unsub was a woman and then were interrupted by Hotch and the finding of another body. She was following Jack the Ripper's case to a T. When all of the agents dug further into the investigation they found out who the un sub was and that she was a victim of rape. They found her in a motel room about to kill another man. Caitlyn's heart raced as she ran up the stairs of the motel, gun in hand. This time Reid was along for the takedown and Caitlyn followed right behind him. They all held their guns up as she straddled the man, knife in her hand.

"He wanted it." she snarled.

"Drop the knife!" Caitlyn commanded.

"He got it."

"Put it down now." Caitlyn said.

"We don't want to shoot you." Morgan pleaded.

"We don't want to hurt you Sara." Hotch said quietly. William put his gun down and tried to talk her down and told her about his fathers death which brought her to tears and he was able to get the knife from his hands. All the agents lowered their guns as they took him into custody. Caitlyn looked over at Reid, who still was pale and shaking. She placed her hand in his and gave it a squeeze.

"I'm going to the hotel to get some sleep, I'm exhausted." she said.

"I'll meet you there."

 _Reid's Point of View_

Reid sat in the same bar, listening to Ethan play. Wondering what his life would be like if he didn't join the BAU as Gideon sat down next to him.

"How'd you find me?" he asked.

"You're not all that hard to profile." Gideon responded, "Your friend is good." Reid nodded in agreement.

"I missed that plane on purpose," Reid admitted, looking over to his mentor, "I'm struggling."

"Well anyone whose been through what you've been through recently would." Gideon said with a sympathetic smirk that a father would have looking at his son.

"Before all of that happened I never even considered another option," Reid confessed.

"Are you questioning whether or not you're strong enough to be here?"

Reid nodded his head, trying to fight back tears, "Yeah."

"I have been playing at this job and trying to find another for almost thirty years, I've felt lost, I've felt great, I have felt scared, sick… insane. I don't know, I guess the day this job stops gnawing at your soul, your hands stop feeling cold, maybe that's the time to leave." Gideon lectured, Reid's eyes teared up.

"I guess I had to try and see if I could step away from this job…" he started.

"And?"

"I'll never miss another plane again." Reid concluded. Gideon smiled and took a sip of his drink, they listened to Ethan's jazz for a while before the young agent stood up.

"Where are you going?" Gideon asked.

"I have a girl to get to." Reid smiled, walking out and heading to the hotel room where Caitlyn was and taking the files of dilaudid and dropping them in the trash on his way out. Gideon smiled as he watched the young genius leave the bar,

"I don't know what's going to be worse, the drugs or that girl. Maybe I could be wrong. And… I'm talking to myself. Maybe I should start looking for a new job. I'm the crazy guy talking to himself in a jazz club." he mumbled leaving a tip for the bartender and heading out himself.

xxx

She was already almost half asleep laying on her side.

"Spencer?" she asked groggily, sitting somewhat up.

"Yeah it's me," he answered, and she slid back down with an exasperated sigh. Reid turned on the bathroom light to not shine her out and changed into pajamas and slid into the bed behind her, wrapping his arms around her and placing his head into the nape of her neck, breathing her in.

"Caitlyn," he whispered.

"Hmmm?" she responded sleepily.

"I'm struggling." he felt her hand wrap around his, and she let out a sigh of relief.

"I know, I've known the whole time." she confessed, he pulled her closer.

"I'm so sorry." he whispered, "I'll never keep anything from you again, or treat you like that you didn't deserve it." Caitlyn turned around in his arms burying her head in his chest.

"It's okay, you can beat this. I'm going to help get you through this." she promised, and Reid tried to fight back tears.

"Don't cry, there's nothing else for you to cry about. It's all going to get better from here, and if and when things do go wrong, I'm alway here and on your side. I told you I love you, and that I'm yours. And if you're mine that means I can't let anything happen to you if I can help it." He smiled and kissed her forehead and she yawned quietly, "Plus seeing you cry makes me cry and I'm trying to keep up my tough ex-swat persona, I don't want to look like total softy." Caitlyn joked and they both erupted into a fit of laughter. It was the first time they had genuinely laughed in weeks, Caitlyn finally yawned once more and pulled herself closer to him. He wrapped his arms as tightly as he could around her, wanting to remove every amount of space from between them and finally Reid slept easy for the first time in weeks.


	13. Girls are Mean

**A/N: SURPRISE! Thank you for the reviews! To one of my reviewers, I try to space out the dialogue but when I copy and paste it it sometimes gets mushed together, kinda like the whole Hotch Hitch problem I have with my computer. But, I got a surprise day off of work tomorrow which means I stayed up late without having to worry about waking up early to finish the chapter after this and will be able to write more tomorrow as well. I'm just getting too excited to get to the point where Caitlyn meets Reid's mom- but that's all in due time! So enjoy and review review! :) And here are some unrelated david bowie lyrics because rest in peace to an amazing artist.**

 _For years and years I roamed, I gazed a gazeless stare~ David Bowie_

Dilaudid was bad, but the withdrawal symptoms were worse. The first couple of weeks were the hardest, thinking that he could take the scientific approach the young genius tried to find anything to make his symptoms lessen. But there was nothing that could help the hot flashes, the weakness and the tremors that happened the first few night's that he was off of the drugs. Caitlyn would lean over him, using a wet towel on his forehead as he shook in a cold sweat. The hostility worsened. They would argue when he was feeling really bad. Caitlyn was convinced that ginger ale and Saltine crackers were pretty much the fix to anything when you were feeling sick to the stomach, and when Caitlyn offered it to Spencer for the tenth time the young doctor snapped at her from his position hugging the toilet,

"I"m withdrawing from a opiate dependence, not car sick or a pregnant woman. The ginger ale and the damn crackers aren't going to help just like rubbing dirt in a cut wont help either." Caitlyn was used to these little outbursts, and would just shrug and pop a cracker into her mouth. Once that had passed, there was still the insomnia and the irritability. But it was nothing as close to when he was using. A lot of the nights Caitlyn would fall asleep with Spencer reading quickly through three to five books a night, sometimes going two days without sleep. Eventually he started to become himself again. The young doctor was secretly going to meetings and would talk to Caitlyn each time he felt like he wanted to use again. But each day he got better and better. Some of the cases were hard, one in Dallas was especially hard. The victims in the leaves reminded Reid of being in the corn field, and understanding what exactly they felt like before they died. And then there was Frank. The sexual sadist that took the ribs of his victims and took the life of the one woman that Gideon loved. But each day he got better, and better and finally was the Reid that she fell in love with. With each horrible case the two got closer. The two fed off one another. Reid would push Caitlyn to use her mind and look at the crime scenes and get into the un subs heads in ways that she never would have before. The ex-swat member was usually doubting herself and believed she was just brought in incase another bomb was set or Derek wasn't there to kick down a door, but Reid helped give her confidence. Caitlyn on the other hand kept the doctor's babble a bit more conversational, even though she would never be able to keep him from babbling so much that Morgan would threaten to kill him once or twice. He would never be completely the same, all of the agents would go through things that changed them, but he was sober.

For one of the first times in a while, Caitlyn was awake before her sleeping boyfriend. She smirked as she saw him sprawled out, hair covering his face. She crawled forward, lightly placing kisses on his neck until she saw his eyelids flutter open.

"Good morning." he grumbled, pulling the covers up over his head to shield the sunlight and then tumbling over to wrap both of them fully inside like a cocoon.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you up from a nice dream?" Caitlyn teased, the young doctor pulled her in closer by the small of her back and gave her a deep kiss. Caitlyn was surprised at how… confident Spencer had become since they had started dating. When they had their first kiss for the first time he couldn't even speak, and now he was completely comfortable with himself in that area… and others. She was nervous when it was finally time, but not as nervous as Spencer. Caitlyn had had sex before, not promiscuously, but she had never taken anyone's virginity. But to keep it short and not to get to X rated, the young doctor knew the female anatomy well and how to work it. It was like Morgan had a detector, or saw the spring in the doctors step the night after it happened and poor Spencer turned red with embarrassment, begging him to be quiet.

"No, you woke me up to something better than a dream." he smiled, kissing her again.

"We have to be at the office at 7," Caitlyn started, "so I say we just grab breakfast and then go to work."  
"Or," Spencer said, "We can just grab coffee and bagels and spend some extra time in bed."

"I think that's a brilliant idea." Caitlyn purred.

After a quick roll in the sheets, and getting their coffee and breakfast the two entered the BAU. There was a serial killer who was targeting women on the campus of a small Midwestern college.

"You two were almost late." Emily said heading to the jet.

"I can think of one reason why." Morgan said with a wiggle of his eyebrows, Spencer instantly got embarrassed. Caitlyn loved how he could still be so boyish and innocent.

"Yeah, we wouldn't have been late if we didn't do the one reason twice," Caitlyn said non-chalantly and walking infront of the two officers with Emily at her side and earning a jaw drop from Morgan.

"My man," Morgan said, offering Spencer a fist bump that he had no idea how to return because he didn't even know what the gesture was. Caitlyn was really starting to feel apart of the team, but there was something about Emily recently. Ever since the incident with Tobias Hankle, and Frank. The sexual sadist who killed Gideon's college sweet heart and got away. The section chief Erin Strauss was paying more attention to the unit. She met with Hotch and all of the agents were worried by how long she was in there for. One hour twenty two minutes and fifty six seconds, according to Reid. Caitlyn wondered if Strauss had sad anything to Emily. The only thing the section chief said to Caitlyn was a quick welcome to the BAU and a reminder that she could be replaced very easily with the stunts that she's already pulled within one sentence. Caitlyn was amazed at her ability to do that.

The agents had to hit the ground running as soon as they got there, they were up against a spree killer and they were on a race to stop him. As soon as they arrived they piled into the Sedans and straight to the campus of the all girl college. Campus security had been doubled, and yet almost as soon as they arrived they were staring at a crime scene. Caitlyn stared at the body,

"She had her mace out but she didn't use it?" she asked, always being careful as she tried to take in any details that could be easily missed as red and blue lights flashed behind them. "And it's well lit, he's not afraid of being seen." Morgan asked how often the shuttles on the campus ran, finding out they ran every fifteen minutes the un sub had to know the system and strike fast. Caitlyn kneeled down to take a closer look at the victim, she remembered her first real crime scene it was hard to even get a good look at what had happened and now she was so close if the corpse was breathing she could feel it.

"Were all of the victim's arms crossed like this over her chest?" Caitlyn asked, the officer confirmed and asked why.

"It's a classic sign of remorse." Morgan answered for her. For once, Gideon wasn't saying anything. There was no, 'I'm the unsub, how did I do it', or pushing the agents to look deeper. "After he did it he felt bad about it, so he poses his victims like this in the hope that they'll rest in peace." The officer working the case looked at the body and then at all the profilers.

"You can tell all that just by the arms?" He asked.

"That's why you called us here, to build a psychological profile of your killer." Morgan asserted. Finally Gideon spoke and Caitlyn looked up to the sound of his voice asking the officer quietly how long it would take to clear the scene.

"It's lucky that there's a curfew," Caitlyn said standing up and putting her hands on her hips, "or else there would be a mob scene as big as if Justin Timberlake came on campus." Gideon just looked at her and then down at the body,

"Have Hotch set up at the precinct, we'll run everything through. By the time this campus wakes up I want a handle on everything."

Caitlyn, Morgan, JJ and Gideon walked back into the precinct to tell the rest of the agents what was going on and what they saw at the scene. The next morning, Gideon wanted Reid and Caitlyn to go and talk to the friends of the girl that lived with her in their housing. They were the youngest of the group and who they would be able to relate to most. When everyone had gone their own separate ways, Caitlyn and Reid sat in their hotel room. Case files open and papers of the crime scene spread around. Caitlyn laced her fingers through her hair as she looked at information on the school and what was known about the circle of friends the victim was associated with.

"Honestly," she breathed, "if I went to an all girls school I probably would have killed myself."

"Why?" The young genius asked, who was sitting across Caitlyn at the small desk.

"Girls are mean, Spencer."

"Trust me, I know." Caitlyn gave him a wide mouth gape, "NO! Not you! Girls, especially pretty ones were never really nice to me."

"Yeah, well girls are even more mean to other girls. I had plenty of friends but most of them were boys. Girls were so…" she trailed off to think of the word for it, "bitchy. I would have to play politics just to get in their circle of friends and then once I was in there I always felt like the odd one out until I would get kicked out." Spencer looked over at her.

"I never thought that you would have had any problems like that."

"Well, you're not the only one who felt like an outsider their whole life," Caitlyn said flipping through more pages, "but you had a ridiculously high IQ that came with your bullying. Mine was subtle and because everyone around me was an asshole and I had a hard time not telling them it."

"That I do believe." Caitlyn threw a pillow at him he caught it in his hands with a big smart ass smile on his face. Maybe the un sub was a female, Caitlyn noted in her mind. But didn't bring it up, unsure if it was her own memories in school and how much she didn't like other girls clouding her judgement.

The next morning Caitlyn was awake before Spencer, he had fallen asleep in the chair at the desk and Caitlyn lifted her head up and had to peel a laminated crime scene photo from her face that she had fallen asleep on. What a glorious life, she thought as she walked over to Spencer at the chair. She knew she had to wake up up softly, ever since Tobias he would sometimes have nightmares or wake up extremely threatened, it hadn't happened in a while but she was still cautious.

"Babe…babe…" she said softly, poking his sleeping mass. He didn't move, she poked him again.

"That replica of the death star is not accurate…" he mumbled in a dream, Caitlyn rolled her eyes and nudged him a little harder which made him wake up instantly.

"It's time to get ready to go you little nerd." She laughed as she hopped into the shower, the young doctor rubbing the sleep from his eyes and trying to get over the audacity of the other patron in his dream of making Darth Vader's fortress inaccurately.


	14. Going Soft

**A/N: What whaaat is this! Honestly, I think that those of you who enjoy my story are the luckiest. I update like almost every day. But we can give this thanks to the three reviews I received on the last chapter and my boss giving me today the day off unexpectedly! Which means I had time to write ahead two more chapters. You should all want me to have days off and get sent home early- but then I wouldn't have money really so… every once and a while is good. Anyways, thanks for all the reviews and because I got THREE on the last chapter, like wow, and have been getting more and more I decided that I would give you another chapter. See how that works? More reviews, quicker updates! And honestly, I love that you guys love my OC because honestly she's based off me 97%, I'm just not as badass and in good physical shape. But, here we go! Thank you again!**

 _This is what makes us girls_

 _We all look for heaven and we put our love first_

 _Somethin' that we'd die for, it's our curse_

 _Don't cry about it, don't cry about it_

 _This is what makes us girls_

 _We don't stick together 'cause we put our love first_

 _Don't cry about him, don't cry about him_

 _It's all gonna happen~ Lana Del Rey_

Caitlyn fumbled with her clothes before going into the house. She learned how to deal with a grieving family but her and Spencer were about to go into a house full of grieving girls. And he wasn't the best at knowing what to say, and would sometimes say the wrong thing without trying to.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked looking at her, Caitlyn nodded her head and he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek before they walked in. All of the girls were huddled together on the couches, eyes red and puffy from sobbing. Caitlyn stood up and cleared her throat, telling the girls how she spoke to the victim, Amy's parents and when the funeral services would be held. She also gave the girls information on where her parents would be staying if any of them wanted to give their condolences.

"How did you all let this happen?" A brunette said from the crowd of girls, Caitlyn raised her eyebrows, "everyone is thinking it, you are the FBI. This place is crawling with police and she gets murdered waiting for the security shuttle." she continued to snap. The woman who was assigned to watch the girls in the building looked at the young brunette,

"That's not helpful, Katie."

"Actually it is," Spencer started, Caitlyn looked at him trying not to look panicked only imagining what he would say, but he continued, "the fact that she was killed in a well lit area with a police presence indicates that the killer is most likely part of this campus. He isn't an outsider and isn't someone who would raise alarm with police or any other potential victims."

"You should also be aware that all of the three victims were brunette." Caitlyn said, not trying to make eye contact with any of the girls in the room. The horror on all the girl's faces made an extremely loud silence. "At this point we do consider it an intentional pattern…". With that the two agents left all of the girls in horror. At that point the girl who had spoken up wanted to speak with the two FBI agents. Caitlyn and Spencer walked over to her as she sat on the couch and apologized about speaking out so harshly beforehand. Caitlyn was empathetic and the two agents tried to find anything that would give them any idea about the un sub. The only thing they learned was that most of the girls were carrying mace or anything that could be bought online and held in a purse to protect them.

"I'm pretty sure half of those girls are setting up appointments to get their hair bleached." Caitlyn said, looking at Spencer, "you did good back there. I was nervous."

"Honestly I don't think that I'm that bad, I am really good at conversations I am a genius I know what's wrong to say in a room of crying girls whose friend was just brutally murdered." Spencer said with an eye roll.

"I meant I was nervous about how I was going to do, but now that I think about it I should have been nervous about that too." Caitlyn smirked at him.

"You're hilarious." Spencer said sarcastically.

Caitlyn and Spencer walked back into the precinct where there were evidence boards with all of the evidence posted on there. The campus was going to be shut down, so it closed the timeframe that they had to catch the un sub. They presented a rough profile, it was someone with access. He was on a spree killing and they believed the stressor was a white brunette women, which is probably why that's who he was killing. Prentiss called Garcia to try and find security guards who got kicked out or rejected by the FBI, that gave them Nathan Tubbs. He was a responder at every scene, and he had lost custody of his daughter.

"We've got a possible." Emily called from the room in which she was on the phone with Garcia. Gideon recruited Caitlyn and Morgan to go along with him to take him into custody. Caitlyn went into the other room to quickly strap on her bulletproof vest. When she turned around Spencer was standing in the doorway.

"Be careful." he said and Caitlyn nodded, strapping her gun into the holster.

"Baby I'm always careful."

"No you're not."

"I know, but I'll be smart." she answered back, wanting to kiss him but knowing that she couldn't with all of the officers and the rest of the team around. She grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze on the way out.

"Hey wait!" he called after her, "I love you."

"I love you too, nerd." she winked at him.

The team found Nathan Tubbs in the car with another brunette female. He was taken easily into custody and didn't put up much of a fight. The young girl ran into Caitlyn's arms and she patted her head assuring her that she was safe. Gideon interrogated Tubbs but he claimed to know how interrogation worked and didn't give up any information, but he was working him up trying to get him to explode. The evidence they got from his house fit the profile but it was nothing that could keep him in custody. But that didn't matter, there was another murder and this one was in broad daylight and there was a scene the size of a crowd of Justin Timberlake fan girls. JJ tried to get the dean to help with the students to get them away from the crime scene. The poor woman was completely frazzled and frustrated that this happened while the agents had someone in custody.

Caitlyn, Emily and Reid all were leaning over the body,

"I don't think this was the same killer." Gideon said.

"You've got to be kidding me." The assisting officer groaned.

"Blunt force trauma to the head, she was knocked out, not tazered." Caitlyn said slowly moving the victims head to the side ever so slightly to show off the wound.

"These stab wounds were shallow, they're hesitation marks, whoever killed her wasn't sure they wanted to be killing her or never tried it before." The young genius confirmed, looking at the officer through a pair of polarized Ray Bans.

"But she has defensive wounds just like every other victim!" The officer stated.

"That's not surprising considering the head wound." Emily countered, another officer gave the lead a note, _He's innocent, I'm still out here._ Spencer made a face,

"The first un sub was remorseful he wouldn't brag about killing." But then the young genius ran off. One of the student's had spat in JJ's face and he caught it right as it happened.

"You need to keep people out of here man!" He said running up to the other blonde who was wiping her face. Caitlyn looked over at Emily, both of their faces scrunched in anger.

"Who the fuck spits in someone's face." Caitlyn mumbled to her.

The team had a copycat on their hands. After talking to the angry girl Katie again, they finally had an idea of what was going to happen and how they would catch the killer. The un sub was a girl. Caitlyn should have spoken up sooner, maybe then they could have caught the actual killer or stopped the copy cat. It was yet again time for another tactical takedown. Caitlyn and Morgan were to stay on the perimeter as the female un sub tracked and approached Tubbs.

"I really don't have a good feeling about this." Caitlyn mumbled to Morgan as they crouched behind a wall. Gideon and Hotch being their eyes and ears.

 _Go go go!_ The voice rang in their ear pieces as the girl confessed to killing someone for Tubbs. Caitlyn and Morgan sprung out from behind the corner, wielding their guns and demanding the girls to put the gun down. She looked so sad and helpless, begging him to kill her. As they rounded the corner they saw Tubbs fall to the floor, they were too late, again.

"FBI!" Morgan screamed, the young girl looked at them, tears in her eyes and blood on her hands.

"Put down the knife!" Caitlyn yelled, "put the knife down!"

"Listen!" Morgan pleaded.

"Are you going to shoot me?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper.

"No one is going to shoot you, just put the knife down!" Caitlyn asserted.

"No," Derek started as the young girl turned the knife on herself and shoved it into her gut, "no!" Both Caitlyn and Derek ran to her, putting their guns back in their holsters. Caitlyn ran over to the girl, throwing the knife from her grasp and placing her hand on the wound, blood spurting out from between her fingers.

"Stay with me." Caitlyn begged, putting pressure on the wound as Morgan screamed for an ambulance while doing the same for Tubbs, "you're going to be okay."

Both of them died. All of the agents were quiet on the plane ride home, especially Gideon. Caitlyn confronted him on the air-way prior to when they left.

"Gideon, you knew this was going to happen, didn't you?" she asked.

"I didn't think anyone would die." he said.

"But you knew there was going to be a copy cat and they would find each other and that's why you let Tubbs go."

"At best it's always just an educated guess." he responded.

"I could have done better. I was trained specifically for situations like that Gideon. Every case so far everyone has died." Caitlyn confessed.

"You're good at what you do, you've become a good profiler. And you're good for Spencer." he answered, the last part rubbed Caitlyn the wrong way. As if he was saying goodbye to her.

Caitlyn fumbled through her bag to find the keys to her and Reid's apartment. But before she could open the door her face was in his hands and he kissed her long and hard, pulling back and smiling.

"I've been waiting twenty seven hours, thirty two minutes and fifteen seconds to do that." he said, calculating the time between now and the kiss they shared before going in to interview the girls. Caitlyn gave him a weak smiled and opened their door, dropping their bag on the floor.

"I don't know if I can do this." she confessed, sitting down on their leather couch and looking up at him. This was the first time he had really seen her emotionally vulnerable, sure he had seen her cry after what happened with Tobias but all of that stemmed from him.

"What do you mean? Can't do what?" he asked, kneeling down infront of her.

"This job, Spence. I was called in because of my specialties in explosives, negotiations and tactical strategy. I was on the SWAT team for crying out loud, I've taken down terrorists and really bad people but every single time I've been given the lead on one of these cases because of my 'specialties' it's gone wrong and people die. I'm still not even officially part of this team, Hotch could give me the boot at any second." she said, looking down at the floor and avoiding eye contact with him even though he was eye level and inches away from her face.

"Everything that has happened was out of your control you've done the best you can do. And as far as I and anyone else is concerned you are apart of this team, just because a paper hasn't been signed yet doesn't mean anything. Paperwork for some reason takes a while. I think it's mostly Anderson's fault. But nothing that's happened was your fault." he whispered.

"That girl died, and I was holding her wound waiting for the paramedic to come, you should have seen the look in her eyes. She probably wasn't even eighteen yet." Caitlyn's tone didn't change. "Things like this didn't bother me before… I've seen shit Spencer. I did time on the streets with narcotics units, I've seen the bloodiest of the bloody and I've never felt this before. It's never really touched me. I could have got there faster, I could have done something."

"You can't start blaming yourself, you're good at what you do. Things like this happen, but you can't shut down and you can't doubt yourself." Spencer assured her. Caitlyn continued to just stare at the ground.

"Alright fine, now you're going to have to make me exert my muscles and you know I'm not like Morgan or athletic in any manner." the young doctor said, standing up and placing an arm under Caitlyn's kneecaps and the other behind her back as she used all his strength to lift her up and place her in the bed. She still didn't make any kind of emotional reaction.

"I thought you would be a lot lighter but then I didn't factor in the fact that most of your body mass is muscle." Spencer breathed out, which finally earned a smile from the blonde.

"You'll never get used to this, we're not supposed to. But you have to learn that some things you just can't change, no matter how good you are." Spencer said to her, finally getting her to look in her eyes.

"I guess you're right. Because I am pretty damn good." Caitlyn smirked.

"There's my girl." he smiled, laying down and pulling her with him.

"I think you're making me soft." Caitlyn said, laying in his arms and looking up at him. She was so close to his face she could feel each of his exhales.

"Whatever makes you feel better." Spencer kissed her forehead. Caitlyn looked over at the clock, they hadn't slept in almost two days and had to be at the office in six hours. Too tired to change out of their clothes they fell asleep. Caitlyn's head on Spencer's chest, his one arm wrapped around her but the two sprawled out and fully clothed, while at the same time Gideon was packing his clothes to leave.


	15. Yes, she did

**A/N: As promised, here is the next chapter! Thank you guys so much for reviewing, this story is getting so many more follows and favorites and I appreciate every review that I get! I just finished watching the new episode, wow! But there's so much for them to go through and I want to hit all the major points so keep reviewing so I can keep showing you! I can't explain how much I love that you all enjoy this, it's turning into my baby. Here it is! Review review, I have the next two days off we all know that means I'll write a ton sooo…. it's up to you when you get the next one! Thanks to you all again!**

 _Wonder when they bite me_

 _Do these bitches' teeth hurt?_

 _Yes I am an icon, that's me on your T-shirt_

 _Thought You Knew Better_

 _Do your fucking research~Nicki Minaj_

Opening her eyes slowly, Caitlyn sat up to see what had become her apartment. At first it felt like she was just staying the night, but after long cases and nights at the office the book cases and maps on the wall finally started feeling like home. She looked down seeing that she was still completely dressed from their last case. What really made her feel like she was at home was the young agent who was sleeping there beside her. The alarm went off. Caitlyn always was in the habit of waking up a minute before her alarm went off, Spencer explained that this was apart of her biological conditioning and she did it to herself whenever she complained that she couldn't sleep in. Spencer awoke slowly, cracking his neck.

"I think that is the longest amount of time that we've slept in almost three months." he stated as Caitlyn groaned.

"I need coffee. I need so much coffee that I should just get an IV of caffeine. Right through the blood stream." she said as Reid got out of bed and stretched.

"Did you know that small doses of sleep are actually better for you long term, the recommended amount of sleep for the average adult is eight to nine hours. But the body and brain function fully and their best on only five to six."

"It is too early for statistics, and I slept in a bloody shirt. I'm going to go take a shower." Caitlyn said as she stumbled her way to the bathroom. Spencer started the pot of coffee and tried to call Gideon before he went into the office. Straight to voicemail. The young doctor tried one more time seeing if the line was busy or not. It rang, and rang until it went to voicemail again. Caitlyn came out of the bathroom in a warm fuzzy bathrobe, hair up in a towel and poured herself a cup of coffee. After the first sip she closed her eyes and let out a sigh of caffeinated relief.

"What's wrong?" she asked, and the young doctor gazed up at her from staring at her phone.

"I tried to call Gideon and he didn't answer. And yesterday when I was going to stay and play chess with him he didn't even wait to tell me he was going home."

"He probably was exhausted like the rest of us… he'll probably be at the office when we get there today." she answered, looking at the floor.

"You think somethings up too."

"No I don't."

"Whenever you're not telling the truth you stare at the floor." Damn it.

"No, I was looking at your feet you slept in your shoes last night." Caitlyn tried to cover up, "now get in the shower we have to get back to work."

The couple walked into the office, now fully changed. But the tension was so thick you could almost cut it with a knife.

"Now I think something is up." Caitlyn said as she already saw Morgan with his go bag and not looking happy.

"What's wrong?" Caitlyn asked.

"We already have a case in Milwaukee." Morgan said, Caitlyn looked around his shoulder and saw Emily packing up her desk. Spencer stayed to talk Morgan while Caitlyn went over to her desk.

"What are you doing?" Caitlyn asked, the brunette didn't even look up.

"I'm leaving the FBI." she answered.

"What? Why? Emily you're one of the sharpest people on this team."

"I'm taking the foreign service exam, I told Hotch when he was putting in his transfer."

"Woah, woah, woah. I go to sleep, wake up and Hotch is leaving, Gideon is missing and you're leaving?" Caitlyn exclaimed.

"SSA Robertson," Caitlyn's hair stood up on the back of her neck when she heard the section cheif's condescending tone and knew she would turn around to see Strauss standing at the doors of the bullpen, "we have a jet to catch."

"You've got to be kidding me," she said under her breath, "You better be expecting a phone call from me Emily."

Caitlyn boarded the plane last, trailing behind Spencer. Both of them didn't have to say anything but just exchanged glances saying everything each other was thinking. JJ, Spencer, Morgan and Caitlyn crowded together on the front of the plane, Strauss sitting a couple seats behind them and looking over the case file. Caitlyn and Morgan were stoned face, there was nothing that they liked about this at all.

"You know from this angle, she almost looks human." JJ said quietly, Caitlyn turned around to get a look.

"Barely." she mumbled.

"I can't believe I couldn't even talk to Emily about all this." Caitlyn whispered.

"She was gone before I heard the news." JJ sighed.

"Now we're down two agents, and Gideon is MIA." Morgan grumbled.

"Has Strauss even been out of the offi-" Reid started unaware that their section chief was coming. JJ gave him a signal to be quiet as she finally approached.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe it's protocol to brief everyone before we reach the crime scene." She said in a tone that made Caitlyn want to knock her in the face. Both her and Morgan looked down, while Spencer gave an awkward smile and JJ was an angel for doing what her nor Morgan could do, give her an answer.

"Yes ma'am." JJ smiled insincerely. She began to explain that the un sub was abducting women from very public places, with no witnesses. He holds them for 48 hours with no sexual assault and then dumps the bodies with their hearts carved out of their chest. Morgan slapped a picture down infront of Strauss and Caitlyn stared at her carefully to see her reaction as Spencer began to rant about how the un sub cut out the hearts of the women so crudely. The section chief made eye contact with Caitlyn, looking up from the photo.

"We're probably looking at someone in a psychotic break." Caitlyn said not breaking eye contact. "Someone who is very comfortable being around blood but as you can see, obviously doesn't have the skills of a surgeon."

"So do we have a working theory?" Strauss asked, Derek chuckled.

"Sure we do, someone really doesn't like women."

When the plane landed they made their way straight to the crime scene, the victim was wrapped in a blanket and they met the lead officer on the case. He thought that the un sub had a van or a truck in order to shield himself when he dumped the bodies. Derek, looking closer at the body asked if there were any prints found on what the victims were wrapped in. There were traces of paint, but no prints.

"He's trying to demean them, throwing them out like trash." Reid said with his arms crossed. Throughout the whole time Caitlyn couldn't stop looking at Strauss, the horror on her face as all the agents got face to face with the dead body on the ground. She also never thought that she would say that she missed Hotch, but was impressed at how Derek was stepping up. The last thing Caitlyn wanted to do was babysit Strauss on this case.

"This is your fifth victim, right?" Strauss asked with her arms crossed, the officer confirmed, "you should have called us sooner."

"I thought we had a handle on it." The officer said defensively, now Caitlyn REALLY missed Hotch.

"Apparently not." Strauss countered. JJ stepped in at the right time, taking her away from the side. Caitlyn, Reid and Morgan all looked at each other.

"I never thought that I would say that I missed Hotch. Like a lot." Caitlyn said.

"Preach, little shot." Morgan said under his breath. "I'm calling him." he said walking away. Caitlyn stood back and looked at the body with Spencer. Both bouncing ideas back and forth off of each other about maybe why the un sub was doing what he was doing when Strauss came up behind the two of them.

"Are you two flirting over here, or are you doing business?" she asked raising her eye brow. Caitlyn had to use every bit of strength in her body not to knock her out right there.

"Excuse me?" Caitlyn said, turning to face her directly.

"I just want to make sure that the two of you are giving this case your full attention. I do not condone dating between agents, especially on the same team. But Agent Hotchner stood up and gave a fair case." Strauss condescended.

"Yeah, and we all know that you don't trust his judgement." Caitlyn fired back, Spencer put a hand on her shoulder.

"Just letting you two know that I have an eye on you. You're still fairly new to this team Robertson, we don't want any googly eyes clouding any of my agent's judgement. Your success rate has gone down in your role during past cases. But I have to give it a little longer to determine whether it's just circumstance or," she looked Spencer up and down, "something else."  
Morgan walked up as she was walking away and Spencer's light hand on Caitlyn's shoulder had turned into a death grip as if he was holding her back.

"I just got off the phone with Hotch. All the abductions have taken place twenty minutes before or after the schools had been let out. He thinks we could be looking at someone who works in the school system," Morgan began and then looked at Caitlyn, "you alright?"

"We might have a sixth victim and there's going to be no question in who the un sub is because it's gonna be me, I might kill her." Caitlyn mumbled under her breath.

"Let's get back to the station, I'm going to have Garcia get some information for us." Morgan chuckled, walking to the Sedan.

"Don't let her get to you, I don't think this is going to last long. Gideon is going to come back." Spencer said to her quietly as they walked closely next to each other.

"Whatever she can bring up what she wants about us, but literally to bring up exactly what we were talking about this morning, I swear she has some kind of special piss people off power." Caitlyn grumbled to him.

Another woman was abducted from a clothing store. The un sub was using his own child to lure his victims. Spencer was able to give a geographical profile while Morgan let the officers know what kind of vehicles to be looking out for, and that the people who live there probably know who the un sub is. Caitlyn tried to explain that since there was no sexual component, the un sub is trying to say by cutting the woman's heart out and that the un sub probably has borderline personality disorder. Morgan called Hotch, trying to get him to come out and get him to help on the case. Spencer was getting increasingly worried about Gideon and Strauss was getting on Caitlyn's last nerve. Caitlyn took a step out and took out her phone.

"Emily," Caitlyn said as she answered.

"Hi Cait." she sighed.

"We really need you out here. Strauss is really getting on my last nerve. Spencer is starting to get really worried about Gideon, Morgan is trying his best to make sure everything is how it should be but- if you aren't here and Hotch isn't here, the team isn't as strong as it could be." Caitlyn confessed.

"I already quit, I turned in my gun and my badge. Gideon will come back, you guys are all smart you'll solve this case."

"Strauss came up to me and Spencer and asked if we were talking about the case or if we were flirting." Caitlyn heard Emily gasp on the other side of the line as if they were in high school gossiping.

"No she didn't."

"Oh yeah," Caitlyn said, "she did. She even used the term _google eyes_."

"I wish that I could say I can't believe it, but I can." Emily said in her signature voice.

"He's already got another one, honestly Emily I wish that you would just tell me what was going on. You worked so hard to get onto this team and then you just left I just don't understand." Caitlyn said, hearing a doorbell ring in the backround.

"I have to go… Hotch is at my house?"


	16. See You When I Get Out

**A/N: Well what do we have here, another chapter. And a really long one! This is because I wrote like crazy today and already got to chapter 19. We're getting close to the meeting of Caitlyn and Spencer's mom meeting. Thank you guys so much for the reviews, they're appreciated as always! And come on, I see you others who are favoriting, drop a review- not like I don't appreciate the usual reviewers I love you guys a lot. So here goes! I have more and I'm off tomorrow so come onnnnn review so I can give you more! The next chapter was one of my favorites to write so far so you should want it!**

 _May your feet serve you well and the rest be sent to hell_  
 _Where they always have belonged, cold hearts brew colder songs_  
 _Fate will play us out with a song of pure romance~ Panic! At The Disco_

A day had passed and all of the agents were still looking at all of the case files. Caitlyn felt like Strauss was always looking at her. They felt like they were looking at the whole case the wrong way. Caitlyn was looking over the case files and waiting to find any connection between fathers and trouble students.

"Hey, look whose here." Spencer said light heartedly. Caitlyn spun around in her chair and almost spun over as Prentiss and Hotch made their way into the room. Hotch walked over to Morgan, giving him a firm handshake.

"How fast can you get us up to speed?" Emily said giving Caitlyn a smile, who let out an ultimate sigh of relief. Spencer squeezed her knee under the table.

"How fast can you sit down?" JJ gleamed.

"Thank god." Caitlyn breathed until Strauss came into the room and it was like every bit of good air was sucked out of it. She stared at all of the agents whose smiles slid from their faces.

"We're only here to help." Emily said sternly, looking up from a case file. Hotch gave her his signature stone glance that Caitlyn normally wanted to avoid but was giving her an overwhelming amount of joy.

"We'll deal with this later." Strauss said. Caitlyn couldn't keep a smile from widening on her face as most of the team was back together and they began to look at the case. Caitlyn could tell that Spencer was waiting for Gideon to come through the door, or even call. But she had a feeling that he wouldn't. Finally Garcia got copies of the trouble students over to the agents. It seemed like days had passed as the agents dug through the pages and pages of children in the public school system.

"This is impossible, they're are too many." Spencer groaned, flipping through the pages two times as fast as any of the other agents. Another body was found and the agents were on the scene. There was a small hill leading down to where the body was and Strauss headed down first, tripping and almost falling on top of the victim. Hotch grabbed her for support and helped her away.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I stepped on her hair," Strauss said, finally starting to unravel.

"Take a second if you need it, this is what is is. Just don't let the public see you unravel." Hotch instructed her as she placed her hand over her mouth.

"If it makes you feel any better, she didn't feel it." Caitlyn said, Hotch shot her a glare that indicated that she didn't help the situation at all. Caitlyn mouthed a 'Sorry' at him as an assisting officer led Strauss away, and Derek gave her a secretive fist bump. The victim was left in a different area this time, the un sub was getting smart and knowing where all the man power would be changed his location of where he would dump the victim.

"If he changes when and where he abducts them, we're back to square one." Caitlyn pointed out.

The husband of the dead woman arrived, screaming her name as he made his way over to the crime scene.

"No no no, we gotta keep him out of here." Morgan said, him and JJ running over to the man as the rest of the agents stood over the victim. Caitlyn walked over to help try and calm the man down.

"I hear you're worried about Gideon," Hotch said to Reid as he leaned over the body.

"I keep trying to call him." Spencer confessed.

"He's probably at his cabin that's where he goes when he needs to… get away." Hotch assured him.

"Reid, I need your head in this."

"I know," he answered, shaking his head. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yes?" Hitch turned to look at him.

"Did you really put up a case to Strauss for me and Caitlyn?" Spencer asked him. Hotch kept his face straight, even though the idea of the young agent's relationship made him think of the one that was probably ruined for him at home. Haley didn't want him to leave for this case but Hotch couldn't stay away.

"Yes, I did." Hotch answered, keeping it short. Not wanting to tell him that the two young agents worked incredibly well together and he had hope for them. Just like the hope he had for Haley and their future when they started dating.

"Thanks." Spencer said walking away and Hotch smiled the world's tiniest smirk.

They had gone through the paperwork, they had gone through atleast seven pots of coffee. Hotch was such an essential part of the team and so was Emily. The two extra set of brilliant eyes helped all of the agents work better with one another.

"Reid, what are you thinking?" Hotch asked, noticing the young genius deep in thought.

"What if he isn't a problem child?" Reid spoke up, "it's going away from the basic profile."

"No, what is it?" Caitlyn pressed him.

"Sometimes when a parent is unstable, especially if the other one is out of the picture, you'll do anything to be the perfect child." Spencer said. No one except for Caitlyn noticed the slip of they'd and you'd. Caitlyn knew about Spencer's mother, and it broke her heart thinking that Spencer grew up under the pressure of trying to be perfect. He had told her about having to send her away to get help and how hard it was, but he never got close to talking about it around the rest of the team, this was the first time there would be any hint of a connection.

"Like helping their father abduct women?" Emily asked raising a brow.

"They're never late for school, all the abductions and dumping were timed exactly in perfect timing for a kid to get to school. I don't think the killer would care, I think the kid would." Reid continued. Garcia was called to the table and they waited for her to work her magic and send over the files. Spencer and JJ were sent over to talk to some of the principals, Caitlyn stopped him before he left.

"You don't have to tell me to be careful, I really don't think the un sub is a school principal." Spencer started, Caitlyn grabbed his wrist.

"When you were talking in there, you said when there's a parent with a problem, _you'll_ do anything to be the perfect child."

"I did?" Spencer said, not noticing his slip of tounge.

"Yeah. I just wanted to make sure you're okay and your head is in the right place with Gideon worrying you, and I know you probably are feeling some kind of connection to this poor kid." Caitlyn said grabbing his hands.

"I'm okay, I guess I do feel a connection but that's leading us closer so it's a good thing, right?" Spencer said, Caitlyn caught eyes of Strauss around the corner. Caitlyn took a quick step away from him and gave him a friendly pat on the back.

"You go and get that information, Dr. Reid." she said acting over professional, Spencer rolled his eyes and she winked at him as he went with J.J to the school and Caitlyn went back into the conference room.

The interview was more than a success. They had a child's name and found out that the father of the child was diagnosed with cancer. Hello, trigger. Spencer called to let Hotch know that David complained about being sick and the school nurse drove him home. That was their time to move, the woman who was probably just trying to be nice and do her job drove herself right into a trap. Spencer and JJ were to meet the other agents at the house. Caitlyn looked around for her FBI vest,

"Caitlyn!" Prentiss said, throwing her bulletproof vest at her, Caitlyn caught it and smiled.

"Thanks."

"Well you're my buddy, remember." she teased and the two agents headed to the scene. Hotch sent Prentiss and JJ to go and have an eyeline to cover the back incase anyone tried to sneak out from inside the house. Caitlyn crawled up to the window, trying to be as careful as possible and then ran back to where the remainder of the team was.

"The kid is alone in the living room." She informed them.

"No sign of the nurse or the dad?" Morgan asked, Caitlyn shook her head no.

"We need to get in there, he already changed how he abducts them do we want to chance that he sticks to the rest of the model?" Morgan stated.

"Let's just pound down the door!" The assisting officer exclaimed.

"We can't do that, he could spook just enough to kill her early." Hotch said.

"I could go in alone, the boy is in the family room alone, he'll answer the door." Caitlyn suggested.

"No!" Reid and Strauss said at the same time.

"We need to get in that door. He's looking for female authority figures, if he lets me in, as soon as I see anything that gives us cause I can call you guys in." Caitlyn said.

"You aren't even officially apart of this team. You're still assigned to the SWAT unit your papers aren't signed yet." Strauss tried to stop the young agent.

"All the better." Hotch said.

"If I'm not apart of this team and still in the SWAT unit, then you have no authority over me." Caitlyn said, unstrapping her bullet proof vest.

"You're going to let her go?" Strauss looked at Spencer, whose face was scrunched with worry, trying to keep the agent from going in against her orders.

"I can't let her do or not do anything, and no matter how much I don't want her to go in there, it's the best chance of saving that woman's life and getting the un sub." Spencer said, the unit chief shook her head. Hotch handed a cellphone over to Caitlyn, telling her to page as soon as she saw anything that would give probable cause. He then looked over at Spencer and back at Caitlyn, giving her a nod of approval for quick display of affection before going into somewhere she may not come out of. Caitlyn walked over to him and kissed him quickly.

"Now I have to tell you to be careful, because I know you're going in that house no matter what anyone says." Spencer frowned.

"You really do know me well. I'll see you when I get out. I love you." Caitlyn said turning around and walking up to the door.

"I love you too." Spencer said to her as she walked away.

To say that she was nervous was an understatement. Except for the car bomb on the roof almost every time Caitlyn took the risk or the lead in a case it had gone wrong. She was nervous that she would be walking into a trap and never come out, or that another woman or the young child would die in a result of her actions. Caitlyn knocked on the door lightly, the young boy opened it.

"Hello," Caitlyn said smiling sweetly at the young boy, "I'm Caitlyn your dad asked me to come by."

"He's busy." The young boy replied.

"Would it be okay if I came in and waited?" She asked, the young boy shrugged and gave her access to the house. Caitlyn made sure to look at every inch of the room as fast as she possibly could in order to make sure she wouldn't get cheap shotted or attacked. The young boy locked the door. _Fuck._

"My dad says it's unsafe to leave the door unlocked." The boy stated. Caitlyn used every muscle in her face to smile.

"Smart man… Where is your dad anyways?" Caitlyn said quietly, but not too quiet as to alarm the boy or raise his suspicions.

"Caitlyn is in, we're waiting on her go." Morgan stated. Reid and Morgan put on their bullet proof vests and went to be by the house for as soon as Caitlyn gave them a reason to come in or if something went wrong.

"He's working in there." The boy pointed to a door.

"Is he alone?" Caitlyn asked, earning no response from the boy. Caitlyn started to step towards the door, taking in a deep breath and exhaling a smile. "Would it be okay if I went down there to let him know I was waiting?"

"He doesn't let me go down there when he's working." The boy answered. Caitlyn shook her head,

"Oh you don't have to, I'm just going to go and see if he's too busy. And we're both going to be really quiet, okay?" she said stepping towards the door. And slowly opening it as the boy nodded and watched. Caitlyn pulled her gun out of the back of her pants and held it up, opening the second door with force and seeing the missing woman tied up. The woman was shaking her head and Caitlyn didn't have enough time to be confused. The un sub came from behind the door, hitting her in the face with a loose piece of wood. Luckily she wasn't knocked unconscious this time, even though she dropped her gun. She let out a groan of agony as the un sub grabbed it and pointed it at her. He yelled at his son to grab the gun and point it at her. Even though she wasn't unconcious, she was spinning and trying to get her head to work properly. Her vision was blurred and she couldn't think straight, the un sub grabbed her arms and then finally Caitlyn clicked the phone, hoping the rest of the team would be able to get there in time.


	17. Do You Feel That Way

**A/N: I really liked writing this chapter. I haven't gotten to really write a lot where it's just Caitlyn and Reid so I really enjoyed it. After this chapter cue Rossi! I'm super excited for him to come into the picture, because I have a really good plan for the two of them and you'll get a better look into Caitlyn's past and her life. And I'm Italian and come from an Italian family so I love Rossi's character even though I didn't at first. But enjoy this chapter and thank you for the reviews as always! And yes I know we're all Reid lovers but in the show he really isn't so great with the ladies or looked at the way we do, so the little comments about him having a girlfriend are accurate, with how much trouble he has on the show with the ladies. I didn't want anyone getting mad I'm just staying true to character here! I think since I am literally basing the character off of me, I'll post a picture of myself on the profile so you can see what I(Caitlyn) looks like and can put a face to the character! I also live in Las Vegas too so I'm excited to have the next few chapters there, I'm on chapter 20 now muwahahaha. So thanks to who reviewed and please review, I see you reading little lurkers say hi!**

 _It was good never looking down, and right there where we stood, was holy ground~ Taylor Swift_

Caitlyn couldn't believe that there was a young child pointing a gun at her. If her life was going to end by a seven year old shooting her in the face… she'd be pissed. Thankfully the rest of the team was able to come in time, Hotch talked the young boy down and Morgan got the un sub. Reid was at her side in a second, he grabbed her face in his hands and lightly turned it to see her wound.

"I'm going to be fine." Caitlyn said, wincing at the pain.

"I'm going to call an ambulance." Spencer stated, Caitlyn knew to not even begin to put up a fight because he wouldn't budge on that. She nodded and he helped her get up, she was still a little wobbly when she stood up she lost her balance and grabbed onto Spencer.

"I was going to say no, but an ambulance sounds nice." Caitlyn confessed.

Caitlyn sat in the back of the ambulance, and they may as well just rented the equipment because Spencer was over the paramedic's shoulder the whole time. He was pointing out every small knick and scratch and giving every possible thing that could be wrong with her even though it was a minor concussion and a gash that had to have splinters be pulled out of it. Caitlyn had had worse, but she really needed to stop getting concussions or else who knew what would be of her brain by the time she was fifty. She had been shot in the shoulder, stabbed, pistol whipped, punched in the face countless times and the wind knocked out of her more times than she could even count.

"Spencer, let him do his job." Caitlyn groaned, her head starting to pound even more than it did in the beginning.

"Sorry, I just," he started, Caitlyn looked at the paramedic,

"He worries. A lot." The paramedic just nodded and started to bandage up Caitlyn's head, he walked away to give Caitlyn a couple more minutes to regain her balance.

"Do I look cute with my head all bandaged up?" Caitlyn smirked trying to make Spencer smile, but his face was stern and plastered with a frown.

"I'm okay Spencer, this is our job. We got him, we saved that woman. I finally went in and everyone didn't die." Caitlyn said, Reid kneeled down, getting close to her face.

"No matter what our job is I never want to see you hurt." he said, giving her a light kiss on the lips, "and you look cute in the bandage." Caitlyn smiled but it was instantly taken away when both of the young agents heard the section chief clear her throat behind them. Spencer stood up quickly.

"I guess I may have been too quick to judge about you two. You were successful in getting the un sub and didn't let your feelings jeopardize the situation. I may not fully support it, but I don't doubt it entirely." Strauss said. "Robertson, we're going to talk about your actions back at the office. I'll be calling the incident commander as well, see if he knew a better way to keep you under control. This team is full of reckless personalities and I will be keeping an eye on all of you."

"We get the job done." Caitlyn said.

"Yes, but when will some of you inevitably break protocol to do so." the section chief sighed, "good job, see you on Monday."

"Should we have said thank you or something?" Caitlyn asked, her boyfriend just shrugged and helped her get up and get into the Sedan, heading to the jet.

"I can't believe that you talked to her like that before going into the house," Spencer started but then backtracked, "no, actually I believe it. It was still pretty awesome though."

"Yeah it felt awesome," Caitlyn smirked, but the grabbed her forehead, "unlike my head. And I hope my incident commander doesn't tell her what he did to keep us under control."

"Why?" Spencer asked.

"It involved a lot of running. And push ups. And everything else that I don't want to do out of the gym and in the office."

All of the agents were quiet on the jet, it had been a long day and night. Hotch was probably staying at the BAU, he had to talk to Haley first, but for once the agents were at ease. Completely exhausted, Caitlyn fell asleep on Spencer. They were in the oddest yet comfortable position, Caitlyn asleep laying on his chest like a pillow and him with his arms over her and reading a book.

"You two are quite the pair." Prentiss said, sitting down in front of Spencer. He looked down at Caitlyn and then up at the other blonde.

"When we're at home sometimes I'll read to her and this is how she'll fall asleep." He responded nonchalantly.

"I mean… it's like you're polar opposites but yet you work."

"Honestly it took forever to get Spence to get over his germ thing to even give me a hug." J.J said from across the jet.

"I guess we are. I'm lucky." Spencer smiled, going back to reading his book to hide the bigger grin on his face. He felt bad about how he treated Emily when he was on the Dilaudid, the other agent was always trying to be nice to him and he was trying to let her in. Emily and Caitlyn had become extremely close, and the only woman other than Caitlyn he was close with was JJ. But was trying to let her in since she was apart of the team and his girlfriend's best friend.

"At least you know it," Emily stated, "when men don't realize it that's when things go wrong."

Groggy from the pain medicine and her head throbbing Caitlyn stumbled to the car, where Spencer drove them home. Usually Caitlyn drove but she was doped up on pain medicine and he liked the silence in their car instead of the music that Caitlyn usually had them listen to unless she was singing along. She had a beautiful voice, even though she never sang loud enough for anyone to really hear, Spencer still heard it. He helped her get into bed and hugged her for a while, but the young doctor couldn't sleep. Where was Gideon? He had to find out. He left a note for Caitlyn just incase she woke up, but from the looks of it, a bomb going off wouldn't wake up the young agent. He grabbed his car keys and headed to Gideon's cabin.

The alarm on Caitlyn's watch began to go off, silently vibrating. She wore a custom watch that woke her up with soft vibrations, the sound of an alarm clock startled her too easy and she would always wake up on high alert and in panic. Just another thing that came from being in the field with the SWAT team. There was already coffee being made, Caitlyn smiled even though her head was still throbbing with pain. She grumbled and pulled the bandage off of her face.

"What are you doing. You need to keep that on." Spencer said quietly from the corner.

"No, I don't." Caitlyn said, sitting up and running her hands through her hair, and adjusting her Miami SWAT sweatshirt they had all been given. Caitlyn could instantly see that something was wrong. Spencer was sitting at their small dinner table, cup of coffee in his handing staring at what looked like a letter. Caitlyn got up, slowly, she didn't want to pass out on the floor. She took two aspirin and poured a cup of coffee.

"What is that?" she asked, padding over to where Reid was reading over the letter religiously.

"I went to Gideon's cabin last night. He's not coming back." He said, Caitlyn could see he had cried and was trying not to again.

"What do you mean, what does it say?" Caitlyn asked, sipping her cup of coffee and sliding onto Spencer's lap. He wrapped his arm tightly around her.

"He wrote, _I'm sorry that the explanation couldn't be better Spencer, and I'm sorry that you may not understand it, but I just don't get any of this anymore. I guess I'm just trying to find it again, for the belief I had when I first was in college. The belief I had when I first met Sara and it all felt so right. The belief in happy endings, and the ones I know you'll find._ " Spencer said from his eidetic memory. He knew the letter forwards and backwards, he was just probably looking at it out of confusion.

"Are you okay?" Caitlyn asked, knowing that he wasn't, she brushed his hair back with her hands.

"Yeah I'm okay, he left a letter explaining everything… just like my dad did! When he left me and my mom." Spencer said, Caitlyn frowned down at him. She new Spencer saw him as a father figure, and he felt abandoned. "It's addressed just to me, but I'm not the only one he abandoned."

"What do you remember about your father?" Caitlyn said.

"Wha…t?" Spencer asked looking up at her.

"He gave you ten years before he left and you wiped out all of those memories, I think you need to read over that letter again and figure out why out of all of us, he left that letter for you. Out of all the people he walked away from, why did he only explain himself to one person." Caitlyn said getting up to take a shower. Before she got into the bathroom she flipped open the phone.

"Hey Hotch, did Reid tell you what happened with Gideon? Yeah I guess I was asleep longer than I thought. Do we have a case coming in today? Is it alright if I just take him out today. Thanks, see you tomorrow."

"Oh, and Robertson," Hotch said before hanging up, "your papers are signed. You're officially a member of the BAU."

"Thanks, Hotch." she smiled to herself, ending the phone call.

Caitlyn stepped out of the shower and Spencer moped in, getting ready for work. While he was showering Caitlyn pulled on a pair of jeans, a long sleeved blue shirt and slid on a pair of adidas. She took her hair out of the wet braid to release some loose waves that she fingered through.

"You're wearing jeans and adidas to work?" Spencer said, towel around his waist.

"No, we're not going to the BAU today." Caitlyn said non chalantly.

"Why." Spencer was void of emotion, he was racking his brain, he was hurt.

"Because, you and me are going to have a day out today. You're upset and I know you don't want to talk about it and you don't have to talk all day. But we're going to do nice things, so dress… comfortable." Caitlyn said even though she knew that he would basically wear the same thing. Spencer just pivoted on his heels and went to get dressed. Caitlyn never was really the most spontaneous type that thought of things on the fly, but she had an idea.

Putting on a zip up jacket as soon as Spencer was ready to leave, she grabbed his hand.

"Alright, we're off to the first stop." Caitlyn said, the two walking in silence to the subway. They got out in front of the Library of Congress.

"The Library of Congress?" Spencer said for the first time since they left the house.

"Just shush, and come on." she said leading them into massive columns of books and databases.

"I used to come here when I was a little kid, read through case files, and read about basically everything." Spencer said, picking up a book and smiling the smallest smile for the first time. "These books made me want to be a federal agent, help get the bad guys."

"And do you still feel that way?" Caitlyn asked.

"I don't understand." The young genius responded.

"Gideon said that he didn't understand and that he was trying to find it again. So I wanted to take you to the place where you started. And I want to know if you still feel that way." Caitlyn looked at him. The young doctor nodded,

"I do. Where are we going next?"

"Monrose park." Caitlyn answered.

"Where I played chess as a kid?" Spencer asked, Caitlyn nodded.

Spencer was still quiet on the subway, and Caitlyn would lean forward every once and a while and just grab a hold of him, hugging him tightly for a long time as the train went underneath D.C's sub lines. When they finally got to the park, there were tons of kids running around and then an area of chess set ups.

"Go sit down, I'm going to get us coffee and something to eat." Caitlyn instructed him, she definitely was bossy, but Spencer didn't seem to mind. Especially since he could be quite the Diva himself. Caitlyn got the two large cups of coffee and something out of a Greek food truck. When she came back over all she saw was Spencer staring at the chess board, he would have at least tried playing by himself right now. She sat down the coffee and the food.

"Greek?" He asked.

"You know I love my pita and hummus." Caitlyn grinned, "and you like gyros, a lot."

"I do," he answered, looking down at the chess board.

"Alright, you've been quiet practically all day, now it's time for you to talk to me. Would you have liked it better if he just disappeared and didn't say anything at all?" Caitlyn asked, Spencer shook his head.

"No, I just-"

"You feel abandoned and you looked at Gideon like a father figure. He looked out for you, he taught you things. He made you feel special, he made sure everyone called you Doctor so that you would be taken seriously even though you were so young. He was the only good, strong male role model that you had in your life and the man seemed invincible. He went toe to toe with some of the most dangerous criminals in the world and then he just left, just like your dad. I understand why you're sad. But he felt like you were important enough to give you an explanation, not anyone else." Caitlyn said, Spencer looked up at her.

"I really am regretting teaching you how to profile better." Spencer said.

"It's not profiling, it's that I know you. I spend every second of every day with you. This could be a good thing, Spence. I know you're sad but he isn't gone forever. He could find what he is looking for. Now you have the chance to be the brilliant young doctor genius extraordinare' and not have to have someone looking out for you all the time and sticking up for you." Caitlyn said.

"I guess you're right," Spencer started.

"He said that he was looking for it, what he had lost. Just because he lost it doesn't mean that you have to too, he said that he believes in you in that letter. And that he hopes you find a happy ending. I believe in you." Caitlyn smiled, "I believe in us being happy."

"I do too." Spencer looked up at her and smiled, finally. "It will take some getting used to, but he got this belief in college when he met Sara, and I have mine sitting in front of me."

"Dr. Reid!" a young kid called, running over to where the two were sitting.

"Hi," Spencer waved, tucking a piece of hair behind his ear.

"Do you want to play a game of chess?" the young child asked, Spencer spent a lot of his time in the park even in his adult years playing chess with some of the younger semi-geniuses.

"Not today, sorry. I'm here with my girlfriend." Spencer lied, Caitlyn knew that he didn't want to play chess now that Gideon was gone.

"Wait you're girlfriend?" The kid asked, Caitlyn had to hold back laughter. She would never get over the bewilderment on people's faces when Spencer would say that she was his girlfriend or people would see the unlikely couple. Caitlyn didn't see him as a nerdy guy who would never shut up about statistics and socially awkward.

"Yeah," Spencer laughed.

"Oh, hi." The kid waved, Caitlyn waved back. "I'll see you later then Dr. Reid." he waved running over to his friends who were waiting around a chess board. The two heard them whispering.

 _That's not his sister or his cousin that's his girlfriend! She's really pretty I guess there is hope for us nerds! Long live and prosper!_

Both of the agents giggled and Caitlyn looked up at her boyfriend, standing up and taking a seat on the other side of the chess board.

"What are you doing?" Reid asked, finally taking a bite of his food.

"I know you said no to that kid because you only play with Gideon." Caitlyn said moving her rook forward, "so you're going to play me."

"You know how to play?" Spencer asked.

"Well, I know that I can move this rook forward one spot, and that's about all I know from watching movies and watching you play, so you're going to teach me." Caitlyn admitted. The young doctor smiled, and nodded.

"Okay, but first you need to know about the origin of the game, why each piece is called what it's called and basic strategies and terms…" he began, clearly feeling better and starting to ramble at a speed that was so impressive it was almost scary sometimes. Caitlyn listened attentively and somewhat painfully. She stared at him as he explained the game passionately, hands moving over the board quickly pointing out each piece. She got lost, staring at him and he trailed off.

"Are you getting it, or am I going too fast?" He asked concerned, still leaned over the chessboard. Caitlyn leaned up the other half of the way and kissed him.

"Thank you." he said quietly, Caitlyn just nodded and sat back down.

"Okay, let's play."


	18. Who is He?

**A/N: This chapter seemed kind of rushed to me, but I really didn't want to focus on so many cases when I've been dying to get to this point in the story. I wanted to give a little information on Caitlyn's past that will come sooner and show the relationship that's going to evolve between Caitlyn and Rossi in the best way that I could. So if this was a shitty chapter, I apologize but I've been so excited to be finally getting to this point! This chapter is also a personal one for me, because I based Caitlyn's dad off of my own… so yeah. Enjoy, I hope! Thanks for the reviews and it's going to start getting reaaaaallly good from here if it hasn't been already! Review Review! Please :) I want to give you the chapters so badly!**

 _On behalf of every man_

 _Looking out for every girl_

 _You are the god and the weight of her world_

 _So fathers, be good to your daughters_

 _Daughters will love like you do~ John Mayer_

A couple of cases had come and gone. All of the team members were trying to get used to not having Gideon around. Especially Spencer, but once they realized the were able to do it, they had to move on. Things were going great between Caitlyn and Reid. They were enjoying any time they had alone together, unless Caitlyn and Emily and some of the other girls of the BAU were having a wine night. Caitlyn loved how it felt like they were all a big family.

All of the agents were in the bullpen of the BAU. Halloween was approaching, and it was Spencer's favorite time of the year. He had brought a jack-o-lantern to work and had a mask in order to scare Morgan. Caitlyn even wore a pair of halloween socks in her boots to make him happy, their whole apartment was decorated for the occasion. Spencer popped up, scaring Morgan and earning a laugh from all the agents. The laughter came to quick and immediate halt when Strauss walked through he bullpen, a older gentleman following behind her. They went into Hotch's office, Strauss left and then Hotch came out to do introductions. All of the agents seemed… starstruck. Caitlyn was completely lost.

"This is SSA Caitlyn Robertson" Caitlyn shook his hand.

"You're the girl from the SWAT team, right?" Rossi asked, Caitlyn nodded now feeling bad that he knew who she was and she had no idea who he was.

Spencer went into full fan-boy mode, he was talking so fast that it was almost impossible to keep up with what he was saying. Hotch cut him off because the team had to be briefed on a case.

"Can you believe this!?" Spencer whispered to Caitlyn excitedly, "And he knew who you were!"

"Believe what? Who is he?" Caitlyn asked.

All of the agents were briefed on a case where women were abducted and killed. But the un sub prior to abducting the women taunted the victims by posting missing posters with their faces on it all over their houses. When they all got on the jet they started to spit fire ideas back and forth off of one another. Caitlyn noticed that Rossi was very quiet and kept to himself as they went over victimology. He had a small notepad that he was writing in, as if he was taking notes of his own. He didn't give any input and didn't join into any of the ideas that the agents were bouncing off of one another. This was the only rocky start that Rossi had fitting into the team. Once her learned how to become a team player, all of the cases went a lot more smoothly. They had taken down serial killing duo, a cannabalistic killer, Penelope had been shot, the team had put a stop to what could have been a terrorist attack on New York City, and Morgan drove a bomb into the middle of a field saving a huge chunk of the city, JJ was pregnant- a lot had happened in the last couple of months. Caitlyn really liked Rossi, when she learned about who he was- or actually Spencer told her who he was the second that he got the chance the young agent really respected him. They had actually grown close over the last couple of cases, Caitlyn's father was very absent and her mother was full Italian so she felt like it was very easy to bond and identify with Rossi. Caitlyn admired the way he handled cases and his dry sense of humor. Spencer knew about Caitlyn's father and his alcoholism, even though he was still in the picture Caitlyn never really had a relationship with him. She always described talking with her father like talking to an uncle you hadn't seen in a long time. He'd ask how she was doing, she would tell him and then he would tell her that it wasn't good enough. Growing up the best she got from him when she did exceptionally well was not getting a look of disappointment. He was also where she got her temper.

After a few cases and drinks at small bars in hotels, Rossi even invited the young agent over one night to his house- who was she kidding, it was a mansion, to have a couple of drinks. Spencer wasn't a big drinker and really wanted to go and see some eight hour long Russian movie, and since there were no subtitles there was no way that Caitlyn was going to pass up a good drink in a mansion, Spencer was going to pick her up on his way back so that she didn't have to drive.

"Welcome to Casa de Rossi," he said opening his arms.

"Thanks for inviting me over, I really need a drink after that last case." Caitlyn sighed, putting her leather jacket down on one of his couches. The un sub had thought he was an Angel of Death and was making murders look like suicides. Rossi poured himself a glass of scotch,

"Rocks?" he asked before pouring Caitlyn's, she gave him a thumbs up and he came over and handed her the glass. Caitlyn swirled the liquid around before taking a small sip and letting out a sigh of relief.

"Everything alright?" Rossi asked, putting on a Tony Bennett vinyl.

"Yeah, yeah." Caitlyn said shaking her head, "I can't believe how big your house is."

"You know I never thought that writing books would get me this." Rossi smiled.

"I write." Caitlyn admitted.

"Really?"

"Well mostly like, songs and things like that. I haven't done it in a while, when I was little I used to play the guitar and sing all the time." Caitlyn reminisced, looking down at her glass and taking another sip of it.

"Well, let's hear if you have some pipes." Rossi suggested, Caitlyn let out a loud laugh.

"You'd have to give me twenty more of these drinks for that to happen." she responded.

"When did you stop?" Rossi asked.

"I don't know. When I started getting really involved with school, and then the SWAT team it was just something that I kind of forgot about. I still sing in the shower." Caitlyn chuckled.

"I bet that breaks the doctor's concentration when he's reading his text books." Rossi poked.

"He's not like that…" Caitlyn started, "okay he is like that a lot of the time, but I mean there's a side of him that isn't Dr. Reid and is just Spencer."

"When I first joined the team and someone said that you two were dating I thought they were playing a practical joke on me." Rossi confessed, "but then I saw you two. I learned a lot about relationships from my three marriages, and for you two to make it work like this for two years, that's impressive."

"I was scared at first, we kind of got off to a rough start with a lot of things. And my mom and dad's relationship wasn't the best. We both know how that can impact someone, so I was always hesitant and didn't want to let anyone in. I still feel that way, it took a while to let the team in. And now I'm here talking to you so I guess I'm getting a little better at it. I was just always taught not to cry, not to talk about how you feel and your problems and to keep it all to yourself. It got me into some trouble." Caitlyn admitted.

"Do you think that you two will ever get married?" Rossi asked.

"I don't know if Spencer would ever want that, but if he asked me I wouldn't have to think for a second." Caitlyn answered.

"Well, you can always talk to me kiddo. I actually don't hate having you hear, you appreciate Tony Bennett and a good putenesca." Rossi stated.

"Please tell me you have something to eat." Caitlyn's eyes lit up at his mention of food.

"Well," he said looking at his watch, "we have about three hours until your boyfriend comes, so let's see what we can whip up in the kitchen."

When Spencer arrived to pick Caitlyn up, Rossi's house smelled like garlic and spices, and the two were drunk singing Billy Joel songs. Caitlyn was a little more drunk than her older drinking companion.

"God," Caitlyn slurred, "the Stranger was such a good albu- SPENCERRRRRRR!"

The young genius almost fell over when Caitlyn latched onto him.

"Well, someone is extremely intoxicated. Thanks, Rossi." Spencer said sarcastically, Caitlyn singing Billy Joel to him in his arms. "And you put on Billy Joel, now I'll have to drag her out of your house." The other agent just raised a glass to him and sent him home with some left overs.

"Babe!" Caitlyn whispered in a hushed tone, waking up Spencer who had fallen asleep on the jet.

"Sorry, I was dreaming. A six year old boy had been stabbed and abused," Spencer pointed at JJ, "your baby was at the crime scene I was trying to get him out of there."

Spencer had been having a lot of odd dreams lately, but they all mostly followed the same pattern. But more and more every couple of nights he would wake up suddenly and have to calm himself back to sleep.

"You know Reid, simple dream analysis says that if theres a baby in your dream, that baby is actually you." Morgan said. Reid pushed the hair out from in front of his face,

"I don't believe in dream analysis." he replied.

"It makes sense, you dream and the case were working both involve a child like that. Your subconscious is telling you that you want to sit this one out." Hotch reasoned.

"Well I don't." Spencer replied.

"Reid, maybe you're stressed out about going home to Las Vegas, did you tell your mother you were coming?" Emily asked. Caitlyn felt her heart drop into her chest. Caitlyn knew that eventually she was going to have to meet Spencer's mom, but it struck a fear in her that she had never felt before.

"Or maybe since JJ is pregnant, you're getting some ideas." Rossi wiggled his eyebrows, Caitlyn shot him a horrified glance and couldn't even being to speak.

"Why aren't we going over the case file?" Reid said changing the subject quickly, as embarrassed as Caitlyn was.

Ethan Hayes a 5 year old was abducted, he was found one week later in the desert, his hair was combed, nails were clipped and the cause of death was strangulation. The second boy, Michael Bridges, was taken walking to a friends house.

"Are we sure these are even connected?" Caitlyn asked.

"The un sub made calls to both of the families." JJ answered. Before they stepped off the plane, Hotch called Reid over to talk to him. Caitlyn didn't wait along, not all of his business was her business especially when it was a conversation between the agents and their unit chief.

They hit the ground running as soon as they got onto the scene. JJ and Hotch went to go talk to the parents of the missing boy, while Caitlyn and Reid were assigned to go and look at the body.

"Are you okay?" Caitlyn asked before they entered the morgue.

"Yeah I'm fine, just having really weird dreams." he smiled at her.

"I know, I hear you talking in your sleep. And sometimes when they're really bad you jump and kick me sometimes." Caitlyn told him.

"Do I really? Im sorry." Reid apologized, Caitlyn shrugged it off,

"Do you… are you gonna tell your mom you're here?" Caitlyn asked.

"Yeah I'm going to see her the second we solve this case, I want you to come with me and meet her." Spencer said, "Hotch was telling me when we got off the plane that I should really go and visit her, he knows about her condition."

"Does she know about me?" Caitlyn asked.

"Of course," Spencer said grabbing her arms, "I've written to her about you, at least a hundred letters. Will you come?"

"Yeah, I'm just extremely fucking nervous." Caitlyn admitted, "but let's solve this case."


	19. Terrified

**A/N: ITS THE CHAPTER BEFORE THE CHAPTER! AND THEN THATS THE CHAPTER BEFORE THE CHAPTER! I'm just excited thank you guys for the reviews and please review so that I can give it to you because I'm excited! And I'm sorry about the dividing and such my computers formatting really kills it so I'm going to try and fix it as best as I can for you guys!**

 _I'm coming 'round_

 _And now my vision is so clear_

 _If I could change my state of mind_

 _Then I would disappear~Calvin Harris_

Caitlyn and Reid found from the M.E that the boy was extremely thin when he was found. But there was no signs of malnutrition. Caitlyn was surprised when even Spencer couldn't think of any reason for why that may be. While all of this was happening, Emily and Rossi looked at the dump sites. While the parents were getting a phone call from the un sub. They were telling the parents that they weren't good enough before hanging up because their was only a certain amount of time allowed for the phone calls. Penelope was unable to triangulate the phone calls.

Not wanting to leave the family alone, Reid and Morgan were going to stay the night on the couch of the family. And incase the unsub called back. Caitlyn gave Spencer a squeeze on the arm before she headed back to the station with the rest of the team. They were all looking at the case files, and then Hotch instructed them to all get some sleep so that they could look at the case files in the morning. Knowing they wouldn't be able to go to sleep, Caitlyn, JJ and Prentiss all went into the same hotel room. JJ was having some sickness so Caitlyn's saltine and ginger ale knowledge finally came in handy.

"Think you'll ever want to go through with this?" JJ asked Caitlyn.

"I asked Reid if he ever thought about having little baby geniuses one day, and he said yes." Emily said with an eyebrow raise. Caitlyn popped her second favorite snack, dark chocolate covered almonds in her mouth.

"I don't know. Honestly, I've never thought about it. When I was younger I said I would never have children. But we both work so much and such dangerous jobs, so I don't know. We've only been dating for like-"

"Three years." Emily and JJ said at the same time.

"Yeah, but we're both young. So I would have to say the same thing. One day, maybe." Caitlyn answered. Eventually the girl talk ended and all the agents went to sleep.

xxxxx

Caitlyn was awakened from a phone call from Spencer in the middle of the night.

"Is everything okay?" Caitlyn asked, alarmed.

"Yeah, yeah. I had a really bad nightmare and I woke up screaming and totally freaked out the parents. I'm not helping the situation. I'm losing it in their living room, I'm dreaming about dead kids and being covered in leeches." he said on the other end of the phone.

"What is scaring you so much?" Caitlyn asked, hating that she couldn't be there with him right now.

"This boy is dying and there's nothing that I can do to stop it." he whispered.

"I'll stay on the phone with you, we don't even have to talk but I'm here and it'll be like I'm sleeping next to you, okay?" Caitlyn said softly.

"Okay."

xxxxxx

The next morning, Hotch arranged the parents of the second missing child to go to the funeral of the first. Basing it off the profile the un sub would be there to see the reactions of the family and the people around them. The wife was hesitant at first but finally agreed. Caitlyn, Reid and Morgan were to go look around the room of the missing boy. But Reid couldn't stop thinking about his dream. Even though he didn't believe in dream analysis, he started to look into it and referencing it.

"I thought you didn't believe in dream analysis." Morgan huffed.

"Freud has been discredited but Young still has his merits," Spencer started, "I've been having the same version of this dream since I was a little kid."

"No one would think less of you if you had to take some time off to get your head together." Morgan said.

"I just want to find this boy." Spencer said with determination and walking out of the room. Caitlyn looked at Morgan and pointed at the doorway where Spencer had just walked out,

"And that's my man." she gleamed, Morgan rolled his eyes and they followed him out the doorway and they headed to the funeral.

xxxxxx

Caitlyn held Reid's hand the whole time. She was too busy to look over the crowd as Spencer tripped out in his own mind. She felt his hand grasp tightly on hers.

"Are you okay?" Caitlyn asked.

"Fine. I've just been here before." Spencer gulped.

They got someone in custody, but it turned out that he was just some pedophile, Caitlyn, Rossi and Emily led the interrogation. During the interrogation, Morgan came to Reid giving him a case file that was almost identical to Spencer's dream. A boy murdered in Las Vegas who was found behind the dryer. Spencer would have been four at the time, Spencer looked through the file. Turns out that the man who was in custody didn't know the details of the murder and thought the boy was molested. They were even farther away from finding the boy with not a lot of time left. Caitlyn was getting worried about Spencer, especially after Morgan found those case files. But there wasn't time for that.

The un sub reached out to the family again and asked to speak to Hotch. He knew that they were there and kept to the three minute phone call rule. Caitlyn, Reid and Morgan were in the other room, trying to think about what was wrong and what they were missing. Spencer was looking over the case file slower than usual.

"I don't think the un sub is a man. I think it's a woman. The way that she described the clothes over the phone was in detail only a woman would recognize. A male wouldn't reference specific details like that." Spencer said.

"He's right, a male un sub would talk about the competition not the care giving that she described on the phone." Caitlyn added, a light bulb going off in her head. She wanted to kiss Spencer right then and there with that beautiful brain of his. They called Garcia to see if any license plates, but there were no matches. Reid made the connection after looking at the transcripts that she may have been institutionalized.

"Most institutions are very rigid, she talked about being locked down, and that could explain the 3 minute rule," Emily stated.

"How?" The father asked.

"Well most institutions are very strict about the amount of time that each patient can spend on the phone." Caitlyn explained.

"I think her 3 minutes isn't a rule to us, it's just what she was institutionally learned." Reid thought out loud. Garcia was to look for any women that had been released from mental institutions and had lost a child within the last few months. Garcia was unable to do that, they had sealed hospital records and she would have to go through each of them individually.

"I think I might have a way." Reid said standing up.

"Want me to come with you?" Caitlyn asked.

"Not yet." Spencer squeezed her hand walking away. Rossi came up behind Caitlyn,

"You were hoping he was going to say no weren't you?" he asked, Caitlyn let out a sigh.

"I am terrified to meet that woman Rossi." she admitted.

"Don't be." Rossi said, squeezing her shoulder, "she's going to love you."

"Well that's not something I need to worry about right now, we have a boy to find."

 _Reid's Point of View_

Reid walked into the hospital where his mother was staying. He always felt awful every time he came, he always wished that he could visit more. He felt like a horrible son the day he sent her away and every day after that he wasn't there for her. He saw his mother sitting on the chair in a distance reading a book, but that wasn't what he was there for right this second.

"Dr. Reid, your mom didn't tell me that you were coming in town." An older doctor said approaching him and shaking his hand, which Spencer winced at but didn't pull away from. He was going to need hand sanitizer.

"That's not why I'm here, I'm working on a case and I think you may be able to help." Reid started, telling the other doctor all of the details that he knew and asked him if he would be able to talk to other administrators at other hospitals to see if they knew anyone that fit the profile and giving the profile out as well. The doctor nodded in approval and then walked away taking the profile off of his hands. Spencer took a deep breath and walked over to where his mother was, standing infront of her and smiling softly.

"Spencer? What are you doing here?" she asked looking from the journal she was writing in.

"I'm here for work, were investigating a murder and abduction of two young boys."

"I don't like the idea of you working on things that are so sad." His mother responded.

"I know." Spencer whispered.

"You're so thin." his mother complained, "you need to eat some nutritious meals and not coffee all the time.

"I was going to come see you as soon as we wrapped up the case." Spencer ignored her comment.

"Is that girl here?" she asked looking around the room, "the one you've been writing to me about."

"No, I told her to stay back and work with the rest of the team. I was going to bring her after we solved the case for you to meet her."

"Good. I want to meet the girl who finally realized how special and perfect you are." His mother grinned.

"You will. She's really nervous to meet you."

"What else is going on in there?" his mother asked, looking at him deeply.

"Nothing." he said defensively.

"Spencer," his mother said sternly, "I'm your mother. We know. We feel things."

"Did I know someone named Riley Jenkins?" Spencer asked. His mother thought for a minute before responding.

"Yes, he was a story you made up."

"No," Spencer said growing frustrated, "he was a real boy that was murdered when I was four years old." His mother assured him that he must have been mistaken, he then told her that he was seeing things which enraged her. She told him not to say things like that.

"I've been having dreams about him since I was very little mom." Spencer almost pleaded with her.

"Well you were always a reader and it affected with your dreams." She responded. Spencer tried to get any information from her, bringing up the memory he had when they went to a funeral. His mom tried to say that it was his uncles but he knew that that wasn't it. He brought up the fights that his mother and father when they moved houses, which was a lot. He remembered her once telling his dad that he was in danger. His mother confirmed that.

"Why did you think that?" Spencer asked, becoming agitated and frustrated.

"I don't know why I just told you, a mother knows. We're animals, Spencer. We feel things." she answered. The doctor came back over and told Spencer that the only thing that would be important was that she needed to stick to her medication.

"Doctor would it be possible for a woman to convince herself that a grown child was a newborn?" Spencer asked.

"If their psychosis is bad enough and they're off their medication." The doctor answered. Spencer fumbled with his phone in his pocket to call Hotch.

"Hotch, I think I know why the medical examiner was so confused… I think she was breast feeding them." Spencer said. He turned to look at his mother,

"Mom I'll be back."

"Bring your girlfriend with you!" she called after him as he ran out.

 _Caitlyn's POV_

The mother was able to identify the woman. After running her face through vi-cap and all of the information that Spencer had received they had the identity of the woman. As soon as Garcia got the address all of the agents strapped on their vest and got ready to go. Caitlyn jumped in the car with Morgan, throwing on some music as they drove. Gangster rap helped cool her nerves and Morgan was the only person that also appreciated it before the take down. Caitlyn, Rossi, Morgan, Hotch and Prentiss all got to the scene. They had their guns out and were tip toeing around the house, not wanting to scare the woman and cause her to kill the child if he was still alive. Emily motioned to the door and Hotch gave her the signal to go as Caitlyn stood at the other entrance. All at once they barged in, checking each room. Hotch caught sight of the woman running, the boy in her arms. Morgan and Rossi had a visual on her and ran after her. When Caitlyn turned the corner she saw her standing in front of a huge bonfire. The heat from the desert and the flames seemed to sizzle against her skin.

"Step away from the fire!" Hotch commanded.

"My baby is dead." The woman said.

"No he isn't!" Caitlyn yelled, "he's been getting taken really good care of by someone else. Just like you need to take care of this boy." Unknown to her, Reid had pulled up to the house and was running in, gun pointed at the ground. Caitlyn kept hers pointed at the woman.

"I kept healthy, I did good!" The woman said hugging the child to herself.

"We know you did good, we just need you to step away and put the boy down." Emily tried to reason with her.

"My baby is DEAD!" she yelled.

"He isn't, let us prove it to you!" Caitlyn pleaded looking at the woman over the barrel of her gun. The woman hugged the blanket to her, as Morgan and Rossi argued about whether to shoot her or not.

"I've got Michael, I've got Michael!" Reid's voice echoed in each of the agent's ear pieces out of nowhere. All of the agents put their guns down as the woman threw the empty blanket into the fire. Caitlyn looked at the sick woman with pity, as she hand cuffed her softly and gave her to the assisting agents.

Hotch reunited the woman with her son, she cried and held onto him as Caitlyn and Reid watched from the sidelines, both still clad in their FBI vests.

"It's not everyday that things like this happen." Caitlyn smiled looking at them from afar.

"Yeah, it's not." Reid said, smiling himself.

"This is about as good of a day as we're going to get with this job." Caitlyn looked over to him.

"I know." Reid smiled, at that time Morgan and Hotch walked up. "Hotch, do you think it would be possible to wait until tomorrow to return home?"

Hotch looked over at Morgan,

"Do you think you can find something to do in Vegas for a night?" Morgan only smiled in return and then the two walked away. Spencer looked over at Caitlyn,

"Are you ready to go meet my mom?"


	20. Fortune Cookie

**A/N: HERE IT ISSSSSS It's only going to get better an better. Is there going to be a proposal in the future!? I got so many good reviews I decided to give you this before I go to sleep. REVIEW REVIEW PLEASE! I can't wait to give you more, Caitlyn meeting his dad and all that good shit. So review! :)**

 _"It's a very dangerous state. You are inclined to recklessness and kind of tune out the rest of your life and everything that's been important to you. It's actually not all that pleasurable. I don't know who the hell wants to get in a situation where you can't bear an hour without somebody's company." — Colin Firth_

To say that Caitlyn was nervous was an extreme understatement. Caitlyn and Spencer checked into their hotel room, they needed to change their clothes before going to the hospital where Spencer's mother was. Spencer noticed that Caitlyn's go-bag was a little bit more stuffed this time around, but he didn't fully understand why until now.

"Okay." Caitlyn said throwing some clothes onto the mattress, "what do I wear?"

"You're asking me for fashion advice?" Spencer raised a brow, pulling out his usual ensemble of clothes.

"Well she's your mom. Should I dress up a little? Or will she think that I'm like pretentious or too flashy or too into myself. But we are going to a hospital so if I dress down and comfortably… what if she thinks that I don't take care of myself. She was so protective of you and were together if she thinks that I can't take care of myself then how will she think tha-" Caitlyn started to sound like Garcia with how fast she was talking. The young agent was in a full panic.

"Caitlyn." Spencer tried to interject.

"She's your mom for crying out loud, if she doesn't like me then that could totally put a strain on our relationship. She could talk bad about me and then whenever you want to visit her we would have to coordinate because she wouldn't want to see me and then there would be this awful awkwardness and what if-"

"CAIT!" Spencer said a little louder, she stopped and turned to him.

"Sorry," Caitlyn breathed, running her hand through her hair, "I'm just really nervous. Like really, really nervous."

"You don't have to be, I love you. And if I love you that means that she will too." Reid said pulling her in to kiss her softly.

"You're really smart… and she's really smart. I'm not as smart as you guys what if-" Caitlyn mumbled into his shirt.

"Stop with the what if's. I've written to her about you, she knows how you helped me. We've been together for almost three years now. Just go get dressed it's going to be okay. You need to breathe." Spencer instructed her, the young agent breathed in deeply and let out a slow exhale.

"Okay, okay." She said, going to take a shower, mumbling to herself as she did so. She always talked to herself when she got nervous. Finally she was ready, she put on a black cotton dress that she paired with a red flannel jacket which she rolled up the sleeves a quarter's way. She left her hair down in their normal natural blonde waves, and made sure not to put too much make up on and just put on her pair of black and white adidas.

"Is this ok?" Caitlyn asked and Spencer smiled and gave her a nod, extending his hand out to lead them to the cab that was going to take them to the hospital.

xxxxxx

Caitlyn was silent in the car ride, holding Spencer's hand.

"Did you ever get to ask her about Riley Jenkins?" Caitlyn asked, Spencer's grip tightened a little.

"Yeah, she told me that she sensed I was in some kind of danger. Something about that whole case is rubbing me the wrong way. I've been having these dreams forever, I know details about the case." Reid said looking down at their hands.

"Well, I think that if it's really bothering you, you shouldn't let go of it. But it could be nothing as well."

"We're here." Caitlyn's heart sunk into her chest. They got out of the cab and Spencer grabbed his overnight bag, he was going to stay the night and then Caitlyn was going to leave and meet the rest of the team wherever they were in the large city. The two walked up together, still holding hands. Caitlyn felt like she was going to puke, hyperventilate, fall over or all three. When they walked into the building Spencer was greeted warmly, he had been there so many times that they were used to his presence.

"Your mother is over there," A doctor pointed over to a chair where a woman was sitting, picking at some food on a paper plate. Caitlyn could only see her side profile, Spencer squeezed her hand once more before letting go and walking up to his mom, Caitlyn stayed a couple steps behind.

"Mom," Spencer began, the woman looked up and smiled.

"I knew you could do it." his mother smiled.

"Do what?" he asked.

"Save that boy. I told you, a mother knows." she grinned, pointing at her head. Spencer smiled and opened his arm to motion Caitlyn over.

"There's someone that I want you to meet." he said. This was it, Caitlyn crossed her hands in front of her trying to make herself look as innocent as possible and walked over to Spencer who pulled her into his side. Caitlyn melted into him, placing her arm behind his back as well. His mom put down her utensils and leaned back in the chair she was sitting in.

"This is Caitlyn." he introduced them, "this is my mom, Diana." Caitlyn smiled and leaned forward to shake her hand,

"It's so nice to finally meet you Mrs. Reid." Caitlyn said, trying to hide how nervous she actually was.

"Stop." she said, holding up her hand. Spencer's face twisted into horror and Caitlyn's went completely blank. "Give me a hug, and call me Diana." Caitlyn let out a sigh of relief and gave Diana a warm hug. She motioned them to take a seat next to her, Caitlyn was feeling better already.

"So, you're the girl whose got my Spencer all deep in love. I hope you're taking care of him, he's so skinny." Diana said.

"I try to, I honestly think it's all of the coffee he drinks. And it's mostly sugar I try to tell him not to put so much in there and to not live off of caffeine and sugar it's not healthy." Caitlyn said looking over at him, Spencer rolled his eyes.

"That's what tell him all the time! I like her." Diana said to Spencer. Caitlyn was surprised at how normal his mother was, she knew about her disease but all she ever really saw of it was the worst on TV or in movies. She told her about her life, about how they met and started dating even though Spencer had already written to her about it. She told her about how she started and some of the times in the field, that Diana still didn't approve of. The way that Diana spoke about Spencer with so much love really made her admire their relationship. Visiting hours were coming to a close and Spencer informed his mother that the doctor would be letting him stay the night, she threatened the doctor if they kept him any longer.

"It helps if they think you're crazy." Diana explained and Caitlyn laughed, standing up to go.

"It was really, really nice meeting you." Caitlyn said giving her a hug again, Spencer had gone off for a second to sign a paper about his night stay.

"It was nice meeting you too, dear. Look out for my Spencer, I'm always so worried about him." she said looking over at her son. "Make sure that you always have antacids because-"

"He's lactose and tolerant and can't stay away from dairy." Caitlyn finished for her.

"And make sure that nothing happens to him, because I do like you but if something happens to him on your break his heart I'll have to go all mother lion on you." Diana threatened.

"I will. I love him so much, I don't know what I would do without him. I'm so in love with him I think the only way we'd be apart was if he broke my heart." Caitlyn responded as Spencer came up to walk her out.

"I think that went really well." he said, Caitlyn nodded in agreement and gave him a kiss before getting in the cab to meet up with Prentiss, Rossi, Hotch and Morgan.

xxxxxxxx

JJ had already called it a night. Caitlyn walked into her hotel room that had attachable doors to the rest of the team so that it could open up to be one big suite, and closed if privacy was needed; to see Rossi smoking a cigar on the balcony, Morgan and Emily were out drinking and gambling. Caitlyn pulled up a chair on the balcony to join him.

"You're not going to join Morgan and Prentiss at the craps tables?" He asked puffing his cigar. Caitlyn stood back up and walked over to the bottle of scotch and scooped some ice out of the container and poured herself a glass.

"Nah," she said, taking a large sip out of her glass.

"How did it go?" Rossi asked, clicking her glass to his.

"I think it went really good. We talked a lot, she threatened to basically kill me if I ever broke his heart, but other than that I think it went well." Caitlyn explained, drinking another gulp of the scotch.

"Woah, woah slow down. That's expensive and it went well, what are you drowning with my 500 dollar bottle of scotch?" Rossi asked as Caitlyn mumbled an apology and poured herself another glass.

"Something is bothering him and I know it's that case about that little boy Rossi. I don't know I just want to help him. And I know that I can't force him to tell me and he kinda has to come to me on his own because that's just how he is." Caitlyn said, Rossi looked at her.

"And….?" he continued.

"And his mother said that I better not break his heart, and I said the only way we'd be apart and a heart would be broken that it would be mine. And I've never been so in love and so vulnerable and that terrifies me." Caitlyn admitted.

"Ah, love." Rossi said, "once you care about a person, it's impossible to be logical about them anymore. Everybody knows how to love, but few people know how to stay in love with one person forever."

"You know sometimes you sound like a fortune cookie."

"And sometimes you sound like a sap when you go off about how in love you are." Rossi countered, Caitlyn just nodded and took her defeat, "but I envy it a bit. And a adventure may be coming your way, adding some fortune cookie in there."

 _Reid's Point of View_

Spencer waved to Caitlyn as she got into the car and went back to the hotel. He let out a sigh of relief, he didn't want to tell her but he was probably more nervous about her meeting his mother than she was. He turned back into the hospital and sat back to where his mother was sitting.

"I like her. She's absolutely beautiful, Spencer," his mother started, "and she's irrevocably in love with you." Spencer smiled, nodding his head and looking at his mother.

"I'm in love with her too," he told her, his mother pointed to her head once again.

"I know this, I feel it." she stated.

"I'm going to marry that girl one day." Spencer told her, his mother smiled and looked down at her hand, slipping the wedding ring off of her finger that belonged to her mother and putting it in his palm.

"You better, Spencer Reid." his mother instructed him, "girls like that don't come along all the time, and she's better than that little imaginary girlfriend you made up for yourself when you were six."

"She wasn't my girlfriend she was just a friend!" Spencer defended.

"For when you do." she smiled. Spencer squeezed onto the ring tightly before putting it in a safe spot in his messenger bag.

"Your wedding ring?" he asked, looking down at it, his mother gave him a closed mouth smile and nodded.

"It was your grandmothers before it was mine. Your father got it when he asked for permission to marry me. Even though he left I was in love with him so I still wear it. I know it'll look beautiful on her finger, as good as she looks next to you."

"Alright, well what do you want to do now?" he asked, his mother began to tell him about the books she was reading and Spencer was happy to be in her presence. When it was finally time to go sleep, he changed into his pajamas and got comfortable on the roll-away bed that was put in Diana's room. Before he fell asleep he opened his phone and texted Caitlyn one of his favorite quotes from F. Scott Fitzgerald

 _You are the finest, loveliest, tenderest, and most beautiful person I have ever known- and even that is an understatement_

In almost an instant she responded with a quote from Herman Hesse,

 _If I know what love it, it is because of you._

The second he fell asleep, he began to have the same dream. He was in the basement, and the man who stood over the body all these years finally stood up and looked him in the face. It was his father. The next morning he said good bye to his mom and made his way back to the hotel room. Caitlyn was already awake and sipping a cup of coffee out of a styrofoam cup.

"She liked you." Spencer assured her, Caitlyn let out a sigh of relief.

"What's wrong?" she asked. Spencer was always surprised at how quickly she could read him. He hadn't been in the room for more than five seconds and she could already tell that something was off. He wasn't even sure if there was a case or not but he needed to find out.

"I think I'm just going to stay here for a few days. I haven't seen my mom in such a long time I just want to stay for a little longer." he lied, watching Caitlyn as she packed up her go bag.

"Alright. You have to come and tell Hotch and the rest of the team. Are you sure this isn't about Riley Jenkins?" She asked, Spencer tried his best to act cool.

"Yeah, let's go I'll drive you to the airport." he said hurriedly. Caitlyn stopped and pulled her close to him, his heart started to race and the butterflies in his stomach began to flutter. He never knew when that would stop.

"I'll miss you." she whispered to his lips, she smelled like lavender and vanilla and the young doctor smiled kissing her on the lips and pulling her into him tightly. She was so small and in his tall frame he felt like he could pull all of her into him.

"I'll miss you too. I'll call everyday."

 _Caitlyn's POV_

It was cute how Spencer thought that she didn't know what was going on.


	21. Going With You

**A/N: HELLO! All I can say is thank you so much for the reviews and the messages and everything else I've been loving writing these chapters and it's just getting better and better and is going to continue to do so! So enjoy and review and then the next one can be yours maybe sooner than expected ;)**

Caitlyn gave Spencer one last hug before he left the airport.

"There's no way that he's staying to visit his mom." Morgan said, looking at Caitlyn.

"Yeah, no way in hell." Caitlyn confirmed.

"That case has been eating him up inside, I don't know if I made things better or worse by giving him those case files." Morgan sighed.

"Well we all know that he's going to try and solve it on his own," Rossi started, "and we can't let that happen. Hotch, do you mind if we hang back too?" The unit chief looked at the agents who were offering to volunteer to help and just nodded his head.

"Just make sure to be back in a couple of days and wrap this up quickly." Hotch said, stoned faced. Caitlyn, Rossi and Morgan were to stay back.

xxxx

Caitlyn knew where Spencer was staying, he didn't check out at their room in the Bellagio, so the agent's planned to just wait around until he got back. Caitlyn kicked off her boots and laid on the bed while Morgan went to go get some snacks out of the vending machine while Rossi flipped through the TV channels.

"How did it go meeting Mrs. Reid?" he asked, Caitlyn sat up and crossed her legs.

"Really good." Caitlyn said, "well that's how it seemed and what Spencer said, but who knows it could have gone bad."

"Stop it. You're easy to like and you're a profiler now, if it wasn't good you would have felt it and Reid wouldn't have lied to you." Rossi comforted her, and Morgan finally returned with the snacks and the agents waited for Reid to return. After a couple of hours of television, Spencer finally came, carrying a huge box in his hand.

"What are you guys doing here?" He asked, none of the agents looking from the TV set.

"What's it look like we're doing." Morgan said pointing to the television.

"Breaking into my room and watching Days of our Lives." Reid answered.

"It's the Young and the Restless." Rossi corrected him.

"And it's our room, so basically we didn't break in." Caitlyn added, Rossi switched off the TV.

"Aren't you guys supposed to be on a plane back to DC?" Reid asked.

"And you're supposed to be hanging out with your mom." Rossi looked at him.

"But you're not." Morgan stated, "Riley Jenkins?"

"N-n-no, that's actually not why I'm here." Reid said, stumbling over his words.

"Spence." Caitlyn sighed, standing up, "come on, who do you think you're talking to. I know what this has been doing to you."

Spencer smiled sadly down at her.

"Let us help." Rossi said, both him and Morgan rising from their seats as well, "maybe together we can find out who killed him." Spencer thought for a little and then looked Caitlyn in the eyes.

"I think I might already know." he said.

"Well, tell us about the suspect." Morgan urged him.

"Truth is, I don't really know him." Spencer began, "it's my father."

"Whaaaaat. I thought we just turned the soap opera off!" Caitlyn gasped.

Spencer laid all of the case files down on the floor, Caitlyn saw how determined he was and she really appreciated Morgan and Rossi for doing this for him.

"If you're going to go down this road, you have to be sure." Rossi warned him.

"He's right, some rocks don't need looking under." Morgan agreed. Caitlyn felt like she was stuck in the middle. She wanted to be on Spencers side, she had to be. She would be on his side even if he was wrong, but she also agreed with the other agents, so she stayed silent as she looked though what little information Spencer had.

"My brain has been sending me signals, I can't ignore them anymore." Spencer stated. The other agents tried to talk about his subconscious and his fathers abandonment sending him mixed signals but Caitlyn knew that his mind was made up and he wasn't going to budge. They had more in common than she thought. They were both stubborn as shit.

"I've come this far. I'm not going back." Reid said, Caitlyn stood up and grabbed his hand.

"Then we're going there with you." she smiled softly. The rest of the night they went over the case files, how the boy was murdered and found and starting to build a profile and how and why Riley was killed. Reid was looking at a map when he found out that his family lived half a mile away from Riley Jenkins.

"Reid, you know we're going to have to track down your dad." Morgan said.

"I should talk to my mother first." he responded.

"Reid I don't have to tell you that this was sexual in nature and need based, the man we're looking for is a pedophile. So I'll ask you again. Are you _sure_ you want to go down this road?" Rossi asked, leaning forward. The young genius nodded and was off to go see his mother, Caitlyn ran after him in the hallway.

"Spencer!" she called after him, he turned around, holding onto the strap of his messenger bag. "I know that nothing is going to change your mind and you say that you're ready for this and I'm behind you all the way. But I want you to tell me if you're really okay."

"Honestly, I'm terrified. But I can't let that boy die without having any justice, even if it was my father." he admitted to her. Caitlyn cupped his face in her hands and looked him deep in the eyes.

"You can't let your anger at your father cloud your vision, okay?"

"Okay." he said. Caitlyn kissed him softly, the young doctor pulled her in closer to him by the small of her back and deepened the kiss, lacing her fingers through her hair and making her let out a soft moan. She grabbed at the fabric on the back of his shoulder, getting heated with desire but had to pull back.

"Get going." she said, breathing somewhat heavily after almost jumping him in the hallway.

"I will. And thank you." he smiled. Caitlyn turned around and opened the door, hitting Morgan in the face who was looking through the peep hole.

"You two were getting so steamy out that I thought the peep hole was going to fog up." he teased, Caitlyn slapped him on the back of his head.

"Let's just keep looking through these case files, maybe we can find something."

 _Spencer's Point of View_

Even though this was something that he wanted to do by himself Spencer was glad that he had some help. He knew the second he drove away from the airport that Caitlyn wasn't buying his story, and that was something he loved and hated about her sometimes. Entering the hospital where his mother was, Spencer prepared himself to ask questions he maybe didn't want answers to. His mother looked up at him from a scrabble board as he took a seat infront of her.

"Spencer," she began, "where's Caitlyn?" Spencer smiled at the question, knowing that his mother actually did truly like her.

"She's back at the hotel." he answered.

"Ask her to marry you yet?"

"No," Spencer smiled, "not yet. But that's not why I'm here. Can I ask you some questions about dad? I'm having trouble remembering…"

"What do you wanna know?" Diana responded, not looking up from the scrabble board.

"Did he like to be around children?" Spencer asked, his mom's head whipped in his direction the second he asked.

"Children?" she echoed, "well yes, if it were up to him you'd have a house full of brothers and sisters. But I always said why mess with perfection." Spencer couldn't hold in a laugh and a proud smile. Seeing that his mother was starting to get agitated, Spencer tried to choose his words carefully when asking about how his father was around other children. The only response was that he was good with kids, she guessed. And that he coached his little league team. Instantly memories flashed back into Spencer's brain, ones that had been inside the whole time that he buried subconsciously. He remembered Riley being on his little league team. His mother kept talking, but he couldn't stop focusing on that.

"These questions are very strange Spencer what is this about?" Diana asked.

"It's about Riley Jenkins."

"I told you Riley was someone that you just made up." she answered. Spencer defended his case, teling her that he was a real boy, that lived in their neighborhood and that somebody killed him and that he thought his dad had something to do with it.

"He was real?" Diana whispered to herself.

"Yes. And he was on that little league team too."

 _Caitlyn's Point of View_

"The more that we look at this the more I think that we may actually have a real case on our hands." Rossi stated.

"I never doubted Spencer in the beginning." Caitlyn said as her phone rang, it was Spencer and he wanted Caitlyn and Morgan to come with him to interview Riley Jenkins' dad. Rossi was going to stay and watch the daytime soaps while looking over the case files some more. Caitlyn and Morgan jumped into the sedan after arguing about who was going to drive.

"Damn woman, you're stubborn. I don't know how Reid deals with you." Morgan played.

"It's because I have tons of amazing five star qualities." Caitlyn responded.

"And you're the only one who can stand him for that long." Morgan countered.

"Yeah, yeah. You know deep down you secretly love the statistics and miss it when we're all not together." Caitlyn said switching on the radio to Hip-Hop Nation.

"Now this we can agree on." Morgan smiled. The two got out of the car, walking up to meet Spencer who was a couple of yards away from Riley's dad. Caitlyn walked up and grabbed his hand, squeezing it. It was like the couples way of hugging or kissing while keeping it as professional as possible. Spencer nodded, he had already began questioning the man.

"It's just a theory, Mr. Jenkins." Spencer said.

"You must be out of your damn mind," the man grumbled, not stopping what he was doing to talk to the agents.

"We're just trying to get some facts." Caitlyn said.

"Well you're hell far from facts if you think Will Reid killed my son." The man looked them dead in the eyes.

"You were friends?" Spencer asked at the notion of a use of a nickname towards his father.

"Who are you coming here asking that?"

"I'm his son." That stopped the man in his tracks.

"Spencer?" he walked towards him, "Spencer a G man, how about that."

"Was William around your house a lot?" Morgan asked.

"And who is this another fed?" The man asked.

"Yes, and my girlfriend." Spencer stated, the man smiled a wiry smile.

"Well no shit," he chuckled, "but yeah for the occasional BBQ, things like that."

"Was Riley around on these occasions?" Spencer asked.

"Why are you doing this?" The man fired back, Caitlyn had a bad feeling about this. But she knew she couldn't stop Spencer and she had to support him even though it felt like they were just digging up Riley's grave.

"I need to know." Spencer said.

"Take it from someone who does know, he was a good man." he answered. Caitlyn grabbed Spencer's hand and tried to pull him away.

"Where is he these days?" Spencer asked not moving.

"He's probably still at that firm in Summerlin."

Caitlyn felt Spencer's hand squeeze tightly on hers.

"He's been in town this whole time?"

"As far as I know."

The two walked away still holding hands, Spencer's other hand in his pocket.

"You know where Summerlin is?" Morgan asked, Spencer kept looking straight ahead.

"Yeah it's ten minutes away and he couldn't even let me know." he answered, Caitlyn got into the car with Spencer while Morgan went to go pick up Rossi.

"Spencer." she said, he kept quiet as if he was stuck staring off into nothing. "Spencer!" she said a little louder, snapping him out of his state.

"Yeah, babe. What." he said still distracted.

"You haven't seen your dad since you were ten are you sure you want to do this right now you haven't even given all this time to set in." Caitlyn asked.

"I'm ready." he said determined.

Well Caitlyn definitely wasn't ready to meet both her boyfriend's parents, especially not interrogating one of them during a murder investigation. Hopefully it didn't have to come to that point.


	22. Starting Over

**A/N: I combined this chapter, because I am SO excited for the next chapter and the chapter after that that I didn't want to wait so long to give it to you and string it along. So review review, and I hope you enjoy this and I can't wait for you to see the next chapter or two ;) I have my first day of school tomorrow and won't have as much time to enjoy these quick updated and be happy I was eager and stayed up after work to write the next chapter which is my favorite so far! So you get one chapter that was supposed to be two, lucky readers! Thank you for those who always review and let's get atleast 3 and you'll get my favorite chapter as of yet!**

 ** _"_** _Lying down beside you, what's going through your head_

 _The silence in the air felt like my soul froze_

 _Am I just overthinking feelings I conceal_

 _This gut feeling I'm tryna get off me as well_

 _I hope we find our missing pieces and just chill_

 _We cannot sweep it under the carpet" -DJ Snake_

For one of the first times Caitlyn let Spencer drive, and he drove fast. He drove so fast within the limits of federal requirements that he actually beat Derek and Rossi there who were right behind them. There was nothing that they could say to one another, so they just sat in the car and waited outside of the office where his father had been working for ten years. Caitlyn realized that sometimes the best thing that you could say was nothing at all, so she just waited until Rossi and Derek pulled up. Caitlyn and Spencer exchanged a glance and they all walked in, Spencer leading and the other agents trailing behind.

When they finally got into the office, Spencer walked up to the desk. The young attendant stood up and asked who they were there to see. Spencer greeted her and then struggled to say his father's name. From the outside Caitlyn could almost visibly see what was happening, it was like everything was hitting him at once.

"We're here to see William Reid." Caitlyn stated.

"Is he expecting you?" The receptionist asked, and Rossi held up an FBI badge in response.

"He's in a meeting right now, I'm going to get him and then he'll be right with you." she said turning away. Caitlyn didn't take her eyes off of Spencer once, she could hear the gears in his brain turning and see the change of emotion on his face.

"Are you okay?" she asked, all of the other agents expressing the same amount of concern.

"Yeah…no." Spencer stammered, "I gotta go to the bathroom." He spun on his heel and went down the hallway.

"I've never seen him like this before." Morgan said, looking at him as he went down the hallway. Caitlyn had, but it was almost as though this was worse than any drug withdrawal anyone could do.

"17 years is a long time between visits." Rossi said. Caitlyn wanted to go after Spencer, but she didn't. She wanted to look in the eyes the man that was making him so nervous, that left him to deal with his sick mother and put all of this burden on him that he didn't deserve to have to do alone. Caitlyn knew most of this case was Spencer being angry at his father, well, Caitlyn was angry too. She had a thing about dads, apparently.

"Not long enough, the kid's still angry." Morgan responded.

"You're just now getting that." Caitlyn mumbled as a man came out of an office, giving a manilla folder to his receptionist.

"Are you the FBI?" He asked, Caitlyn stood up tall and stared at him sternly.

"Yes, sir. William Reid?" Rossi asked.

"This isn't about the city council meeting is it?" William tried to joke, no one laughed.

"It's more of a personal matter." Rossi responded.

"It's about your son." Caitlyn finally said.

"My son?" William started, seeming to look panicked, "did something happen to him?" Caitlyn was so focused on the man infront of her that she didn't hear Spencer coming up from behind her.

"That's what we're trying to find out. Hi, dad."

After the shock had somewhat worn off, all of the agents made their way into Williams office. William, Rossi and Morgan all took a seat while Spencer stood tall right infront of his father and Caitlyn leaned off to the side against a wall, arms crossed and her glace locked.

"You don't look like me anymore, people used to say he looked just like me." William tried to charm.

"They say people look like their dogs too." Spencer struck. "It's attributed to prolonged mutual exposure. Elderly couples also, they unconsciously mimic expressions of people they've been around their whole lives. It kind of makes sense why I wouldn't look like you I haven't seen you in twenty years."

Caitlyn had never seen Spencer like this. She had never seen anyone like this. He was the most confusing yet impressive mix of strong and sad at the same time. He was angry, and yet fighting back tears, she could see his chin quivering and him clenching his teeth to keep it from doing so.

"You here for work?" William asked without a response to Spencer's previous statement. The agents informed him that they were there working on a case about a child. When Spencer brought up Ethan Hayes from the previous case that they had been working, Spencer's eyes shot to Caitlyn in confusion, they connected for a second and then went right back. This time his eyes were on fire, he told his father about how the case brought up thoughts about Riley Jenkins and that this time after years of having the dream, he saw the killer and it was him.

"Interesting dream." his father responded.

"You don't seem surprised." Caitlyn said sternly.

"I stopped being surprised by Spencer's mind a long time ago." He smiled in response.

"Yeah, twenty years ago." Caitlyn fired back, the smile from his face faded and Caitlyn realized how cruel her response was, Rossi shot her a glance. They then informed William with the type of case that they were looking at how he fit parts of the profile. This is when he started to get riled up,

"I can't believe you think I killed Riley Jenkins," he exclaimed.

"We didn't say that." Spencer said non-chalantly.

"We're just asking for your cooperation. And access to your files." Morgan responded.

"If you want access to my files, get a warrant."

Another silent ride back to the hotel, the agents were going to try and find more information and get Garcia to go under the radar to get onto William Reid's computer. When they got to the hotel, the couple got into the elevator.

"I'm not going to ask if you're okay because you're going to say you are even if you're not." Caitlyn said, Spencer bit at his bottom lip.

"I don't know if I'm okay or not." he admitted, the elevator door opened and he started to walk down the hallway but Caitlyn grabbed him by his wrist.

"You were really brave back there, but I know what being angry is like. Especially at your dad, not in the same way but…how was the last book you read?" she asked.

"What?" Spencer said furrowing his brow, "what does that have to do with anything?"

"This whole time since you walked through that door, since I was supposed to head back to D.C. all we've talked about is this case, and your dad and if you're okay or not. And if we're not talking about that we're not talking at all. I just want to change the subject for a second, give you and your brain one minute to breathe." Caitlyn explained. Reid's frown started to fade from his face and Caitlyn stepped forward and wrapped both arms around him tightly, turning her head and resting it on his chest. Spencer just stood there for a second and then Caitlyn felt his arms wrap tightly around her and he rested his head on top of hers. They hugged each other in that narrow hallway for what felt like an hour until Spencer finally kissed the top of her head.

"Okay, let's go."

When they arrived back to the room their small five minutes away from it all was over. There was an envelope left under Spencer's door that contained the picture and information of another man that also had a note that read, _you're looking at the wrong guy_. The envelope went straight to his room and the timing seemed suspicious. Caitlyn asked if Spencer knew him and he racked his brain and was unsure, there were so many memories that he had buried he could have. Garcia called along with Hotch and Prentiss there was nothing unusual on his computer. And had almost every piece of information posted online about Spencer, which didn't seem to phase the young genius at all.

"Your dad is keeping tabs on you, that's saying something." Rossi said.

"Yeah, he googled me." Spencer said, "I'm going to get some air."

Caitlyn knew to give him some space and not to go with him and they gave the name of the new suspect in the case. Off of speaker phone, Morgan handed Caitlyn the phone.

"Robertson," Hotch started on the other side, "how is he doing."  
"Honestly, he's mad. He's not going to stop until he figures out what happened and if it was his father he's not going to feel anything until the case is solved and it's too late and that's what scares me." Caitlyn admitted.

"Has he talked to his mother about it?" Hotch asked.

"He's tried to, I'm afraid of opening her mind up as well."

"Well you can't be afraid you have to be strong, for him."

"I know." Caitlyn responded.

"Keep me updated." Hotch said hanging up, time had passed so they went to go find Spencer. He was sitting at a video poker machine, and there was a busty blonde with her shirt too far down and leaning too close to Spencer.

"I'll put my cigarette out if you buy me a drink," she was saying to him as they walked up. Reid was obviously not interested as Caitlyn intervened.

"Not today, or any day." Caitlyn said looking down at her, "we've been looking for you everywhere." Caitlyn said to Spencer who stood up and went with the agents.

"Hey, you won like 2,000 here!" The woman called.

"Keep it," Spencer said back to her quickly.

"You know you're giving 2,000 to a hooker right." Rossi said to him.

"Wait…" Caitlyn said after the red anger from a woman hitting on Spencer faded from her eyes. She almost never had to deal with that. "Did she say 2,000? I can run back really quick and cash that."

"Must have been a helpful conversation, what was is it about?" Morgan said as Caitlyn contemplated going back and getting the ticket for the $2,000. They could use some renovation in their apartment, mostly in Caitlyn's closet.

"Hypnosis and how to stop smoking." Spencer said, the lightbulb that went off in his head shining so bright it metaphorically blinded Caitlyn.

The next couple of hours went by so quickly that she could barely keep up. They went to a hypnotist that gave Spencer some insight on the case. His father burning bloody clothes in a fire. His mother freaking out. When Spencer went to go and visit his mother, he made sure that Caitlyn stayed back outside with Morgan. His mother wasn't able to remember, or maybe she did. It sent her into a break and she had a complete freak out. All she kept saying was _Poor Riley, Poor Riley._ And finally, _it could have been you._ When he came back into the hotel room that night, Spencer came out of the hospital he was clearly frustrated and she could tell by the way his hair was messed up that he tugged at it and palmed his face multiple times.

"I don't think that this is going well. He's losing objectivity, anything that she says isn't going to be reliable she thought that Riley wasn't even real until he told her otherwise." Morgan said.

"We've been on this case for three days. In the beginning I was just being supportive but now even to me something seems sketchy." Caitlyn admitted. "He's not going to stop no matter what we tell him. And that little boy deserves justice, just like any other case. We can't lose objectivity either because Spencer is involved and his dad may have been the killer. That would never stop us before."

"She said it could have been me." Spencer said finally reaching the two conversing agents. They were walking towards the police station and saw Riley Jenkins father's leaving. The lead detective didn't want to bring Spencer's father into custody. Things started to get heated, and when Spencer started to get hot headed Caitlyn had to step in. Finally she got him to agree to 24 hours. Spencer stormed out of the room and Morgan went after him telling him he needed to keep his head. He had dealt with people like this before, but all that Spencer cared about was that he got what he wanted and he was going to be able to interrogate his father.

"I want you to go in there with me." Spencer said to Caitlyn. So much for not interrogating her boyfriend's father, it was coming to that point.

And at that moment, JJ was about to give birth to her first baby boy. Caitlyn's phone buzzed in her pocket with a text from Emily.

 _JJ is going into labor!_

Caitlyn looked at William Reid through the glass.

"I don't know if you really want me to go in there with you." Caitlyn admitted.

"Why not?" Spencer asked.

"Because first as we both know I have a bad temper, secondly I just don't want to interrogate your dad. I'll go in there, but I'm just going in to back you up." Caitlyn said.

"Do you remember how resistant the detective was when I said I wanted to bring in my father?" He told me to go back to the Bellagio, have a drink by the pool and think about things. I never told him where I was staying." Spencer said and opened the door to the interrogation room. Caitlyn stood in the back corner as Spencer sat right infront of his dad, looking him dead in the eyes.

"How did the blood get on the clothes?" Spencer started.

"I told you, I'm not going to talk without council." William responded cooly.

"You don't have anything to hide, you don't need a lawyer."

"Whose that over there? She's not doing any questioning, why is she in here?" William asked.

"That's none of your business she's just another agent." Spencer blew it off.

"Spencer, please." William pleaded, but Reid didn't even flinch, "I'm not stupid… I'm proud of you, you know."

"I'm not stupid, either." Spencer replied.

"No you did a lot of good, with your special talents you could have made a fortune. But you chose to help people. I didn't do this Spencer." William said looking down at his hands.

"Like you said, I do have special talents and one of those is knowing when someone is hiding something."

"You're angry that I left, I understand that."

"If you want to make it up to me, tell me the truth."

"I didn't kill that boy, but I know who did." he confessed, when Spencer brought up the name of the other suspect there was pure shock on his father's face.

"How did you know that?" he asked.

"That was the whole idea wasn't it? Where is he now?"

"Spencer, forget it. You don't want to go down this path." William pleaded with him. Caitlyn was getting mixed signals and the heat between the two was getting so hot that she was starting to sweat.

Gary Michaels, their suspect, was found buried across state lines, and he was beaten to death with a bat.

"Maybe it wasn't Riley's blood on the clothes your dad was burning." Caitlyn said to Spencer who was staring his father down as he was getting escorted out of the station. The team went to go and investigate further looking into the ID of the death of Michaels. There was a fingerprint on the glasses. All of the signs pointed to no of his father being the killer. Reid was just determined to nail his dad. Reid and Morgan got into a spat between running the print or not. During this time, Diane was refusing her medication. She needed a window of clarity and she needed to remember. All of the agents were waiting in the lobby of the Bellagio for the finger print to come back. It was a match for Riley Jenkin's father. Caitlyn didn't want to go and arrest him, she felt wrong about the whole thing. When they were looking into Gary Michael's remains the officer said it was a public service murder, and she agreed. She waited at the station for them to bring him in. He rode in linked up and Spencer was the first person in the door. Caitlyn stood up from where she was sipping her cup of coffee. Morgan and Reid took him into the interrogation room and Caitlyn watched as they berated him with questions about the murder.

"I'm going in there." Caitlyn thought that she had lost her mind for a moment when she heard Spencer's mother's voice and then she really thought she lost it when she saw William standing next to her.

"Diana," Caitlyn started.

"Sweetheart, I'm going in." she said, Caitlyn saw where Spencer got his determination from. Caitlyn nodded and opened the door.

"So you're his girlfriend." William said, "that makes sense."  
"He's gonna have a heart attack." Caitlyn mumbled opening the door.

"Caitlyn!" Spencer growled at her, "do not interfere with this intero-" he stopped at the sight of his mother and father standing behind her.

"Spencer, it was me." Diana said.

The four of them moved into another room. Diana explained that she saw that Gary Michaels had played chess with Spencer when he was younger. She could sense that he was a pedophile and that's why he was in danger. She told Riley's dad, and he took her to show him who Gary Michaels was. She was there and fell in the blood of Michael's blood and what Spencer saw was William was burning Diana's clothes. Caitlyn kept quiet throughout the whole interaction, at one point Diana stopped and William urged her to go forward. Caitlyn wondered what it was like for Spencer to be in the room with both of his parents at the same time. Caitlyn saw Spencer tearing up a bit and Caitlyn cleared her throat.

"I'm going to give you guys a minute, okay?" she said leaving the room after all was said and done.

 _Reid's Point of View_

He wanted Caitlyn to stay in that room with him more than anything. He felt guilty about what he had done, after hearing the whole story and not being able to take any of it back.

"The knowing… you can't burn that away. It changed everything." William said, and Spencer for once in his life didn't hate his father for leaving. This was such a big episode in their lives that he never knew about. But that wasn't something they could have told him when he was just a little boy.

"Is that why you left?" Spencer asked, trying to fight back tears.

"I tried to keep us together Spencer, I swear to you. But the weight of that knowledge was too much." Spencer saw his father was trying to fight back the tears in his eyes as well. Spencer waited a little before talking again, not wanting to lose the last bit of control over the emotions that he had.

"You could have come back." he said, his voice surprising him at how weak it sounded, he thought he was keeping it together, "we could have started over."

"I didn't know how to take care of you anymore, when I lost that confidence there was no going back."

"At least now you know the truth." Diane said, and Spencer finally started to lose it, the guilt hit him like a tidal wave.

"I was wrong about everything, I'm sorry." he said, William walking over to sit next to him.

"I am too Spencer," he said, "but maybe we can start over now."

Spencer nodded his head and looked at his mother.

"Did you see that blonde agent, that's his girlfriend." Diane said, immediately going back into mother mode.

"I did. I didn't even really have to ask. Anytime you were talking to me she looked like she was a lioness wanting to tear my eyes out." William laughed.

"She can be like that sometimes with me." Spencer smiled.

"That's the kind of girl that you marry. Especially when you both see and go through the same things… the things that I had to leave after witnessing." William said.

"That's what I told him!" Diana interjected.

"You want to go officially meet her before we leave?"

 _Caitlyn's Point of View_

When the family emerged out of the office she could tell on their faces that the dynamic was different. William went up to her first, and Caitlyn looked at Spencer first and he gave her a nod.

"Let's start over again, I'm William." he said, shaking her hand which Caitlyn returned firmly.

"I'm Caitlyn, nice to meet you. Sorry about being how I was earlier it was a delicate situation to say the least." she smiled as Spencer came beside her and pulled her to his hip.

"I always knew that my son would hook a good one," he winked at Caitlyn.

"They're going to give us the cutest grandchildren." Diana daydreamed. Spencer instantly went red,

"Mom!"

"Sorry Spencer but I want grandchildren and you both are adorable so they're going to be perfect." Diana responded.

"Oh my god," Caitlyn said, "I totally forgot, JJ is in labor she's having her baby."

"What! Okay, mom… dad. We have to go." Spencer said and the two said their goodbyes before leaving the station and heading to meet the team on the jet.

 _Reid's POV_

During the plane ride Caitlyn fell asleep and Spencer played with the wedding ring in the pocket of his bag, keeping it out of the sight of the rest of the agents. He wasn't going to propose to her on the birth of JJ's baby, he was going to wait for the right moment. He didn't even know if Caitlyn was ready for marriage but he knew he wanted to marry her. When they landed he gently shook her awake and the team rushed to the hospital. JJ was glowing holding her newborn baby boy.

"He's so… little." Caitlyn said looking at the baby. Hotch gave Reid a knowing glance and a handshake as the rest of the agents left the room and Caitlyn and Reid stayed.

"Do you wanna hold him?" JJ asked, Reid instantly panicked, he never held a baby before.

"I- uhm don't" he started, but JJ insisted and put the baby in his arms.

"Oh, watch his head." Caitlyn said, putting her hand on his to move it to support Henry's skull.

"I wanted to ask you something but you just got back from that case…" JJ said.

"What is it?" Spencer said not taking his eyes off the baby.

"I want you to be his godfather." JJ stated, Caitlyn awwed, "anything happens to me or Will you and Garcia have to get him into Yale."

"Hi Henry. I'm your god father. You wanna go to Yale? That was your god father's safety school. Don't worry I can get you into Cal-Tech with one phone call." he whispered, looking at the innocence in his hands. He looked over at Caitlyn who had the same look on her face as they both looked at the baby, he imagined what it would be like someday having a baby of his own and a family he couldn't think of anyone else in the world he would rather do it with. He was going to marry that girl.


	23. Ill Stop When You Do

**A/N: This chapter is looooong! But I hope you enjoy it! I liked writing it a lot and wanted to break it up but the next chapter is important and deserves a chapter of its own so I piled two into one and here you go! I hope you enjoy review review and you can get the next one! This is probably my favorite chapter! Thanks for the reviews and please review this one! :)**

 _So don't you worry your pretty little mind_

 _People throw rocks at things that shine_

 _And life makes love look hard_

 _The stakes are high, the water's rough_

 _But this love is ours~ Taylor Swift_

Caitlyn flopped down on the bed, letting out a loud exhale. Spencer moved around from in his sleep.

"Hey," he said quietly, not opening his eyes. Caitlyn had just gotten back from a case she was helping Emily on with Rossi and Morgan. Caitlyn and Emily had become especially close she they had joined the team within weeks of one another. Emily had believed there was a priest killing previous friends of hers, and even though in the beginning not every one was on board Caitlyn was from the start she didn't even have to ask her twice. After the case was done Emily and Caitlyn just walked in silence, she could tell something was wrong with her friend, but there was nothing that she could do except be there for her.

"Hi," Caitlyn said turning to him, he lifted his arms and put them on her shoulders.

"You're freezing, ah." he said, not expecting her to have come fresh from the snow.

"Yeah, the second we solved that weird ass case it started snowing. I should go take a shower and I'll come back to bed." Caitlyn said, walking through the darkness and flipping on the light switch in the bathroom. She stared at her reflection in the mirror. It had been four years since she moved into this apartment, the things that were once only his now merged with hers and they made a home for themselves. Caitlyn smiled and laughed at one of the holes in the bathroom wall where Caitlyn had thrown her cellphone at Spencer because she was so mad at him on one occasion and he tried to use statistics to solve it. They learned how to work with one another and how to make it work when they didn't. Caitlyn took a quick shower, towel dried her head and then finally slid into bed with Spencer who welcomed her under the covers which were already warm from his body.

"Finally," she breathed, curling herself into Spencer as tightly as she could.

"What happened?" Spencer said, a little more awake. Caitlyn pushed his hair out of his face, it had grown so long it hung down to his shoulders. She liked it that was anyways.

"We deported him back to Italy so that the Vatican could deal with him, and then I walked with Emily for a while. I'm kind of nervous about her, something seems off." Caitlyn said.

"I think she'll be okay. It's Emily, she's kind of like you. She'll always be okay somehow." Spencer said, Caitlyn smiled and kissed him lightly.

"Do you ever want to have kids?" Spencer asked out of no where.

"Do…I… we what wait what?" Caitlyn fumbled with her words. She had never wanted kids in her whole life, she had really bad commitment issues before she finally settled down with Spencer.

"Not like I want any right now, I don't know why I asked." he said quickly.

"No, no, no. Sorry. That's not what I meant, I just got done with that really weird case and I don't know babies have always really freaked me out. The whole idea of me being pregnant freaked me out my whole life it's like an alien moving inside of you and I'm so hormonal that time of the month I think I would turn into a monster. And with our jobs how could we do it I mean we are on the same team working the same case-" Caitlyn started to ramble, she saw Spencer's expression change.

"I don't want to have a baby right now, we're still both young and couldn't take it on the road with us I was just… I don't know." Spencer said, she felt him loosen his grip on her.

"Spencer, I love you. More than anything in the whole world. We're not even 30 yet we have so much more to come. But one day, yes, I would love to have a family with you and have a little Einstein or two. It's just hard for me to thing of something so serious in the future like that when we're turning and burning cases right now and what we do is dangerous. The only thing I know about the future is that you're in it." Caitlyn said and Spencer smiled in response.

"That's all I wanted to know." he said, "not now, but one day maybe."

"We have work soon, and I'm really tired from that case, it was really freaky. Can you start reciting some books from memory until I fall asleep or something?" Caitlyn asked, whenever she was coming back from a case and felt like she wouldn't be able to sleep she would always ask Spencer to talk about something extremely boring and that would usually do the trick- and he almost always obliged because it wasn't boring to him. But he spoke softly into her hair until she fell asleep and Caitlyn didn't fall asleep once, wide awake from his previous question. The future, babies, a family. She had been living here for four years. Panic began to ensue. Caitlyn wasn't surprised, this is what always happened with almost everything, every boyfriend before Spencer the second it got serious she ran away, unintentionally changing her habits. She had to have been so in love the four years that had passed she just got whisked away. But there was the panic. She wished she could profile herself to see what was wrong, and then she also hoped no one else did.

The next morning Caitlyn woke up before Spencer by the time he was awake she was heading out of the door.

"Good morning! I'm running to the office to finish paperwork before the case I'll see you there, there's fresh coffee." She said blowing him a kiss and running out of the door and making her way to the outside of the BAU. Spencer just nodded and sat up, reaching in his bedside drawer to the engagement ring that he had finally put into a box for her and slipped it in his jacket pocket.

xxxxx

Caitlyn stood outside of the office, a cigarette in her hand. She smoked when she was a teenager but she kicked the habit when she started focusing on her training for the academy. She took a deep inhale and exhaled, the newly formed anxiety seeming to melt away. She didn't know what was freaking her out and she didn't want to pry her brain trying to figure out why. She couldn't sleep since Spencer asked her about their future, the last 4 years flew by so fast what if the next 20 do too without her even knowing it.

"Are you smoking a cigarette?" She heard from behind her, Caitlyn dropped the cigarette, startled and turned to see Rossi standing there clutching his go bag.

"Uhm...yeah." Caitlyn admitted.

"You won't even smoke the finest Cuban cigar but you're smoking a cigarette..." Rossi said already profiling her, she could tell. "And where's your boyfriend? I'm sure you'd be getting an earful from that."

"I'm just kinda stressed out, I ran out on him this morning before he woke up." Caitlyn sighed.

"Something bothering you? The last case?" Rossi asked.

"No, well yeah kind of. I feel like something is going on with Emily but-"

"That's not it." Rossi finished for her, Caitlyn looked over at him. Rossi was like a father figure to her she always told him what she was thinking.

"Spencer asked me last night if I thought about having kids, and I don't know it... It didn't freak me out it just." Caitlyn began to explain.

"It just freaked you out." Rossi finished.

"Not that I wouldn't have a family with him that's not it at all I love him. It just made me start thinking these past four years since the second I walked into the BAU just flew by. I came in met Spencer and built this life with him and it's been four years and I don't know where they went and then it had me start thinking about the future and how fast time goes and what if it keeps going and I missed opportunities or-" Caitlyn started to ramble and Rossi put up a hand.

"First, you need to breathe. A few months ago I asked you the same question, and you said you'd marry him in a second, no questions asked." Rossi said to her softly, "did something happen? Would you not if he asked you?"

"If he asked me to marry him today I... I wouldn't know now. It's not that I don't love him I do. But we're both so young and did everything so soon before our time, I don't know if I want to do that with the rest of my life. What if it's not the right choice and I'm not the right one for him." Caitlyn breathed.

"Coming from someone with 3 failed marriages and had the same thoughts as you, I can tell you that the love you two have is extremely odd and confusing to me but it works. You can't let your fear or what may or may not happen stop you or put a strain on your relationship. You've had relationships in your past, and what happened at the end of them all?" Rossi asked. Caitlyn was getting a dose of reality.

"I ran." She answered.

"Have you ever had a relationship like this that was this long or this intense ever?" "No."

"Then don't make the same mistake. Once you runaway most of the time you can't go back. I know your parents relationship was hard and rocky and you and your dad aren't the picture perfect relationship. But you and Reid are not your parents. And you are young you need to calm down you did all these things so early you feel like you've lived a full life already but you've got a long way to go." Rossi said grabbing the carton of cigarettes out of her hand and throwing them in the trash, "let's go kid."

"Thanks Rossi." She smiled weakly.

"Don't mention it you stubborn little freak." He smiled.

xxxxxxx

Caitlyn walked into the office and Spencer stood up from his cubicle as they were all heading into the conference room.

"I thought you were doing paperwork?" He asked, Caitlyn cursed in her brain.

"I finished it I went to get some air."

Reid stopped in front of her,

"Is everything okay?" He asked and Caitlyn looked at him and smiled grabbing his hand as they usually did and gave it a squeeze.

"Yeah. I love you, ok? No matter what."

"Okay? You're making me nervous but, I love you too?" He said as she turned on her heel and went into the conference room.

12 people were killed after being at a park in twenty four hours. There was someone who had made such a strong brand of Anthrax that it's strain attacked deep in the lungs. It was a sophisticated strain that didn't have a cure, the remaining survivors were in the hospital. The team had to hit the ground running. All of the agents had to take a pill to try and prevent the strain even if it was effective at all.

"This is really happening?" Caitlyn asked.

"We knew this would happen, we prepared we did our research, and we have to do our jobs." Hotch said before sending each team member on their way. Reid was to go with the lead doctor of the CDC to the hospital, and Caitlyn and Prentiss were to be escorted to the crime scene. There was a media blackout so they had to be careful. Caitlyn and Reid gave each other a nod, this was business and they knew what they had to do. Caitlyn and Prentiss stood at he park where the other people had gotten infected. They found where the pathogen was released and tried to figure out why this was an important place to the un sub. Spencer had a break and they were ready to deliver the profile as more and more of the remaining victims died. They believed the un sub was someone from the science defense community, they believed that he may be one of their own. Caitlyn was nervous looking at all the different federal ranks in the room and couldn't imagine someone on the inside killing people like this so ruthlessly. He would probably be secretive and histrionic and may had logged excess hours at work preparing for the attack and had taken the vaccine and the anthrax himself and had taken the anthrax himself. He probably obsessed about it and the 2001 anthrax attack himself.

"This is insane." Caitlyn said watching everyone run around like a chicken with their heads cut off, "one moment everything is okay another moment the whole nation is under attack and in danger of dying because of one psychopath."

"Puts things into perspective." Emily said, Caitlyn just nodded silently. They had a doctor who was removed from his prominent position, his name was Dr. Nichols, had access and fit the profile. Hotch assigned Caitlyn and Emily to go to his office while Reid and Morgan were to go to his house.

 _Reid's Point of View_

Morgan and Spencer pulled up to the doctors house. Reid's brain was going a mile a minute as they were driving, when he got out of the car, the ring box fell out of his bag.

"Shoot," he said, as Derek looked over.

"What's that?" he asked, "is that a wedding ring?"

"Yeah," Spencer smiled putting it in his pocket, "when this is all over I'm going to ask Caitlyn to marry me."

"About time. Now let's figure this out." Morgan said as the two agents roamed around the house. There didn't seem to be anything odd about the doctor's house at first glance. Derek's phone rang as Spencer went around to a shed in the back while he talked on the phone. He stumbled upon what looked to be like his lab. Maybe the vaccine was in there. As soon as it hit him he knew it was too late and he heard the white powder fall on the floor.  
"Reid, Reid!" he heard Morgan calling and Spencer ran forward and locked the door as quickly as he could.

"I'm sorry." he apologized through the glass door.

 _Caitlyn's Point of View_

"I should have been in there with him. He was gonna ask… and now… oh man." Morgan said to Caitlyn as she pulled up to the scene with Hotch and the rest of the team. The whole thing felt absolutely surreal. This morning she was sneaking out and didn't even kiss Spencer goodbye. Now he was in a room full of anthrax. She wondered why he was in these situations all the time, she cursed his curiosity. The doctor was dead, he believed he had been dead for a few days.

"It's not your fault." Caitlyn said, her hands shaking. She usually could keep it together but she knew how deadly this strain was and that there wasn't a cure, no one she could physically punish if anything were to happen or to save him from.

"Spencer took that pill thing today, he should be okay right?" Caitlyn asked Hotch.

"I don't know, it was precautionary." he responded flatly his phone ringing in his pocket, he answered and put it on speaker.

"Hotch, I really messed up this time." Caitlyn heard him say, looking at him through the window of the house she started to tear up at his voice, she bit her lip.

"We need to get you out and to the hospital." Hotch said.

"No I'm staying right here." he said.

"No! You're not Spencer!" Caitlyn said

"'I'm already exposed it's not going to do me any good to stop working the case. My best chance is to see if theres a cure and see who killed him." Spencer said.

"Hotch, say something to him." Caitlyn pleaded, her heart sank when Hotch agreed. Caitlyn made her way to the door.

"Do not go in there!" Hotch commanded.

"I'm not, I just need to talk to him for one second to his face." Caitlyn said, Hotch gave her a small nod. Caitlyn tried to breathe, it felt like she was going to tip over and everything was spinning. She swallowed back her tears walking up to the glass, Spencer did the same. They knew they didn't have a lot of time and Caitlyn didn't want to distract him. They stood as close as they could with the glass between them.

"You're so stupid." she said, tears finally falling from her eyes, trying to keep her face straight. She wanted to say something endearing but that's all she could muster.

"I'm sorry. I'm going to get out of here." he said.

"You can't die Spencer. I don't know what I'd do without you I love you so much. I will find a way to help you, I'll go to the edge of the earth." she cried.

"I'm going to get out of here, I have to give you this." he said pulling the wedding ring out of his pocket, Caitlyn fell to her knees and sobbed outside of the door, not caring what the rest of the team or any of the other officers saw. She was so happy but the nature of the situation that he may never be able to give it to her was even worse.

"Spencer…" she cried.

"I'm going to figure this out, and then will you marry me?" he asked.

"This is the worst proposal ever." Caitlyn said standing up, knowing that the best way to help him was to be out in the field and letting him work.

"I know, I love you."

"I love you too." she said walking back over to where the team was. Caitlyn called Rossi and Prentiss as the team searched for an answer, every minute felt like years. She did what she could, she wasn't going to leave where Spencer was but she couldn't be directly near him. She called Garcia, looked through every database and every inch of the case file that they could have missed before and prayed that Spencer figured it out, she knew he was the only one that could.

xxxxxx

Everytime that Morgan's phone rang Caitlyn hoped that Spencer was saying that he found a cure or a lead. Finally he did. It led them to a partner that was a student that Nichols was teaching. Caitlyn let out a sigh of relief when Morgan finally told her that he was coming out of the house.

"Thank god." she bawled.

"They think they may have found some kind of cure in his inhaler." Morgan informed her. Caitlyn couldn't even breathe.

"He asked me to marry him. That little nerd asked me when he gets infected with anthrax through a glass window." Caitlyn shook, walking over to the quarantine area.

"I knew he was going to." he said as they walked to where he was being hosed down.

"Spencer." Caitlyn said, looking as he stood there fully clothed and being rinsed down. Morgan went off to help Hotch and the rest of the team as they stripped him down.

"Dr. Reid… did you cut yourself?" she heard the doctor ask, the blood drained from his face.

"What does that mean?" Caitlyn asked, "you guys think you found a cure right?"

"It's in his blood stream now. We need to get him into an ambulance." she said, Caitlyn looked at Spencer as they changed him into clothes and got him into an ambulance.

"I can touch him now, right?" Caitlyn asked, looking at Spencer. He was breathing heavily and started to sweat. Caitlyn grabbed his hand before she gave him permission.

"You're going to be okay." Caitlyn said, trying not to cry anymore. This was her worst nightmare, this was worse than Tobias. Even though that wasn't the ideal situation either, but she had just fallen in love with him then. Now was different, that young genius was her whole world. He was the first thing she woke up to in the morning, the last thing she said at night. He was the scent on her clothes, the home to he house she lived in. He was the taste of her coffee that they chose at the store, the song that he hated but she loved every time she put it on and him hating it made her love it a little more. He was in everything she saw, and now she could be losing her world. That morning she was worried about her future and didn't know that her future could be over that fast, if he died her future died with him.

"Are you doing okay, Dr. Reid?" the doctor asked.

"My throat is a little scratchy, but other than that I fee… I feel.. fe…" he started to fumble with his words, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he began to cough up blood.

"Jesus Christ," Caitlyn started to wail, the doctor urging the driver to go faster. Spencer tried to say something to her, but she urged him to be quiet as he closed his eyes, she prayed for him to open them up again. They brought Spencer into a room to try and test him and find what to do. Caitlyn never felt so alone in her whole life, she knew that she couldn't call the team, if they had anything to tell her they would and she couldn't distract them. She sat in the waiting room, sobbing silently and holding her head between her knees trying to breathe in the waiting room.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Hours passed and Caitlyn was still in the same position in the waiting room when she heard her phone ring, she answered it on the first ring. They had gotten the un sub on the subway and had gotten a cure it was on the way to Reid. Once they had given it to him, he was still resting and Caitlyn was sitting in the chair in the hospital when he woke up.

"Hi." he said, and Caitlyn let out a loud sigh of relief.

"He's awake!" Caitlyn said calling in the doctor.

"What happened?" he asked.

"They got him, and you're going to be okay." Caitlyn filled him in.

"And you were right about where he was keeping his cure." The doctor said, Caitlyn thanked her and she let her know that Spencer would be able to leave after being in observation for the night.

"I can't believe you did that." Caitlyn said, more tears falling down her face as she finally was able to kiss him softly, carefully crawling up by him in the small hospital bed since he was safe and clean now. She had done the same thing in the hospital with him after the incident with Tobias.

"Honestly I really don't like spending the night in hospitals with you I'd rather us be at home, can you please stop putting yourself on the line and being the one who gets hurt?" Caitlyn asked, placing her head on his chest and listening to his heart beat.

"I'll stop when you do." he countered, she smiled at him.

"I told you I would figure this out but there's something you didn't tell me," he started.

"Yeah, I know. So say it again." she said.

"Will you marry me?"

"A thousand times yes."

xxxxxxx

Caitlyn had never been happier when she finally was able to get Spencer home, wedding ring on her finger. Spencer was looking good again, all the color had come back to his face and he was able to walk and move without being in any kind of pain.

"We're home, finally." Caitlyn said, throwing her arms around his neck the second they stepped into the doorway.

"We're going to get married." he smiled down at her, wrapping his hands around her waist and she kissed him, smiling back.

"We are. I think when we tell the team Garcia is going to have a heart attack. We're going to have to fly in my parents and we could get married in Vegas so we're close by your mom. We'll plan it out." Caitlyn said.

"You're going to have my last name." he said still smiling.

"Do you think that's going to be confusing? Reid and Reid. You're Dr. Reid I'd be Agent Reid… well it's not like anyone is asking me what they would ask you. Wow. Caitlyn Reid." she sighed into him, wrapping her arms around him and laying her head on his chest. She never wanted to let him go.

"I don't want to wait. Let's do it this weekend. Tomorrow." Spencer said, kissing her between phrases.

"Are you sure?" Caitlyn asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure we can just throw a little thing together, or go to the court house."  
"Okay." Caitlyn smiled, climbing into bed with her fiance`, completely unaware that Garcia already knew, and so did the rest of the team. And while the two made up for lost time, they were using that time to throw together a wedding.


	24. Superman

**A/N: Happy wedding day! So, no lyrics to begin because the song that started this whole story that inspired me to write it is contained in this chapter. I changed some of the lyrics to have it make sense, but when I heard that song it just made me think of this love story about a girl that would be in love with Spencer and how he fit the profile(ha ha ha) of the song. So here it is! Wedding day! I know theres a lot of things that could be in here that I left out but I didn't want this chapter to be 1000000 years long and theres cases and… other things that I'll need to get to !**

Caitlyn was awakened by arms wrapping around her waist, without opening her eyes she smiled and let out a sleepy groan.

"Goodmorning." she whispered as Spencer kissed the back of her head, smelling her hair. Caitlyn's heart felt like it was going to explode, yes that was one of the most awful days thinking that she was going to lose him but now they were engaged. She turned around to face him and finally opened her eyes, she loved that his face was the first thing that she was seeing in the morning.

"Goodmorning, I'm definitely going to have Dysania today." he said.

"What?" Caitlyn giggled.

"Dysania is the state of finding it hard to get out of bed in the morning, and you're definitely making it even worse doing that." Spencer informed her as Caitlyn kissed his neck.

"Sorry, but unfortunately we have to. But good thing we have every single day for the rest of our lives to wake up with each other." Caitlyn said, running her finger over the wedding ring on her finger. Spencer leaned over on top of her and pushed her hair out of her eyes, staring deeply into them when they heard a knock at the door.

"Who the hell is knocking on our door this early in the morning? What if we were sleeping?" Caitlyn asked, sitting up and grabbing a bathrobe and tying the tie around her waist as she walked over to the door. When she flung it open she thought she was dreaming, in the doorway were Garcia, JJ and Prentiss.

"What are you guys doing here…?" Caitlyn asked looking at Spencer who had sat up in the bed and was grinning from ear to ear.

"What's going on?" she asked again when Garcia ran into their apartment and pulled Caitlyn into her arms.

"Ahhhh! I can't believe that you guys are _engaged_! I wanted to congratulate you the second that I found out but there was so much to do and it was so cute and there is just so much love that I'm going to explode with happy." Garcia said quickly.

"But we haven't told…how did…" Caitlyn said still confused and trying to figure out what was going on, she had just woken up and this was way hard to figure out without any caffeine. It was as if Prentiss was reading her mind as she handed her a large latte.

"Reid told us as soon as you said yes." Prentiss filled her in as Caitlyn sipped the foam off the top.

"He also told us that he didn't want to wait, so we kind of threw something together." JJ smiled.

"So that means that we're here to kidnap you and get you ready to marry that genius over there!" Garcia said grabbing Caitlyn by her wrist.

"What!" Caitlyn said looking over at Spencer who had gone from smiling in bed to laughing at Caitlyn's panic.

"Now say goodbye, you'll see him at the altar." Garcia said pulling her out of the apartment.

"Garcia I'm in my bathrobe and slippers!" Caitlyn objected looking at Spencer as she was pulled into her apartment hallway.

"It's fine it doesn't matter!"

xxxxxxxxx

Caitlyn had never been so nervous in her whole entire life. Once they had gotten her into the car, Caitlyn threw on some clothes from Prentiss' go bag that were in the trunk. All of the girls went to a small mom and pop dress store. The three women wouldn't really discuss any details of the wedding with her, no matter how hard she tried.

"I can't believe you guys are getting married." JJ said as Caitlyn was in the dressing room to change.

"Yeah, this is definitely surreal." Caitlyn said, fumbling with the dress she was trying on.

"What are you going to say for your vows?" Emily asked, Caitlyn froze.

"Fuck."

"I take that as you don't know what you're going to say." she heard Prentiss chuckle.

"I'm a bad public speaker… I do have this song that I wrote about how in love I was with him like, two weeks after knowing him." Caitlyn mumbled, she heard Garcia gasp.

"That's what you have to do, you have to sing it." Garcia said. Caitlyn played around with the idea in her brain.

"I guess." Caitlyn said as she stepped out with the wedding dress on.

"Wow." All the three said in unison. Caitlyn looked at herself in the mirror and for once didn't have anything to say. The dress wasn't long, it stopped right before her knees and was a white lace. The neckline plunged down, and there were lace sleeves that went down her arms.

"You look beautiful in that." JJ said, her eyes wide.

"We can just pull up your hair, I saw a really nice sparkly headband over there that we could work in, you'd look like a princess." Garcia said.

"Are you sure? It's not a long wedding dress and I… no you guys are right I do look good in this." Caitlyn gleamed. It was starting to get close to sundown and the three were apparently on a schedule. Caitlyn purchased the wedding dress and a pair of white pumps, every minute wondering what Spencer was doing and where she was going to be getting married at. Caitlyn was taken back to Garcia's house where she took a shower and sat down like a doll waiting to be dressed and readied. Garcia dried Caitlyn's hair and curled it before putting it up and adding the headband while JJ did her makeup and Emily was on anxiety control. The three helped her into her dress and stood back all smiling ear to ear as they took in the finished product. Caitlyn turned to look in the mirror and started to tear up.

"What's wrong?! Don't tell me you're getting cold feet." Emily said.

"No. No. I've never been so sure. Just… thank you guys so much." Caitlyn said, opening her arms.

"Yay! Group hug!" Garcia cheered.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Caitlyn's hands started to shake of nervousness as she stood, waiting to walk down the aisle. The team had decorated an Italian restaurant that Rossi invested in with an outside lake view, the inside was adorned with flowers and full of catering. The outside, which Caitlyn had yet to see what they decorated the outside like.

"Are you ready?" Caitlyn heard, looking up to see Rossi in a suit. He opened his arms and Caitlyn gave him a hug, he kissed her on the cheek.

"Yeah." Caitlyn said nodding her head.

"You look beautiful." he said, holding her hands in his and looking at her.

"Thank you, and thank you for letting us use this place." Caitlyn thanked him.

"You're welcome, I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. I hadn't gotten to talk to you since you were questioning your future, and I just wanted to make sure that you were still here and wouldn't be pulling a runaway bride." Rossi joked, Caitlyn fake laughed.

"Ha ha. I'm definitely ready." Caitlyn nodded.

"Alright, I'll give them the green light then. Just go when you here the music. See ya, Robertson."

"Not for much longer." Caitlyn grinned as he walked away. She waited behind the corner of the hallway. She had promised not to peek and not to walk down the hallway and outside until it was time. When she heard the music begin she took in a slow deep breath and let it out and began to walk down the hallway and turn the corner. She was taken aback by how beautiful the outside looked. The lake was shining with the lights that were put up, on the damp grass was a beautiful aisle made of white rose petals. Caitlyn looked at the sides, she saw her whole team all dressed up and looking beautiful. Caitlyn's mother was there, she was crying and holding onto her brother. Caitlyn looked and saw more people that she knew from the bureau and Spencer's parents. Finally Caitlyn looked up and saw Spencer standing at the end of the aisle in a black tux with a bow tie. He was standing with his hands crossed and she saw him take a gasp of air when he finally saw her. She wanted to run down the aisle to him, but she walked slowly, smiling so hard that she thought her cheeks were going to pop. When she finally got to the end of the aisle the music stopped and she started tearing up as Spencer took her hand and the preacher began to speak. Caitlyn never took her eyes off of him as he went through the sermon.

"And now, the vows." the preacher said, and Spencer cleared his throat.

"Saying that today is the best day of my life would be a lie. Because ever since I have met you, everyday has been better than the last. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I know a lot, I'm a genius. But you've taught me things that I never even thought to imagine. You make me want to be a better man, you make me feel like I can do anything and I love you with every fiber of my being. We're on a team but you are my partner. Every cell in my body loves you, every minute that I'm not with you is spent counting down the seconds until we're back together. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you, I can't wait to be the one who makes you coffee in the morning and gets you out of bed even if you're not the best when it's early," the crowd of people watching the sermon laughed at his joke, and so did Caitlyn who was trying not to bawl as he said his vows to her, he continued, "I'm going to make sure that you're happy and I can't wait to start this adventure and learn even more from you." Caitlyn squeezed his hand when she realized it was her turn.

"I'm trying so hard not to cry and ruin my make up." Caitlyn laughed, wiping her eyes. "I didn't really have vows to say planned, I kind of was going to make it up later. But I never thought that I would be here, but I am so happy that I am. And I love you more than anything in the whole world." Spencer smiled and Caitlyn saw his eyes getting misty as the sermon finished.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride."

Spencer grabbed her face in his hands and kissed her lightly as everyone in the crowd stood and clapped.

xxxxxxx

"Congratulations you two." Rossi said.

"You look great," Hotch complimented.

"She does." Spencer said looking at her as Caitlyn thanked Hotch. Garcia walked up to the newly forming group, holding Derek on the arm and a tissue in her hand.

"That was so beautiful." Garcia sniffed.

"Now we have two Reids. I thought that just one was enough, but congratulations." Derek said, putting his hand on Spencer's shoulder who hadn't stopped smiling since the beginning of the ceremony. Caitlyn heard a microphone squeak from the stage, and Emily tapped the mouth piece.

"Hi. I'm Emily, the Maid of Honor. So I have a duty. I just want to give a toast. To Caitlyn and Spencer. You two work in a way that is so incredible. It gives me hope, and it's inspiring that through all the awful things we see everyday you two are able to make something beautiful. And I hope it never ends. Um, I want to call Caitlyn up here, she has some vows to do." Emily said, holding up a glass of champagne. Caitlyn looked at Spencer and kissed him and went up to the stage where she picked up a guitar that was propped up from the live band that was playing the music. She plucked some of the strings before she started speaking, looking at the faces that were watching her. Her mom, Spencer's, the team's.

"So, I write songs. I always have and always will. And I don't know if any of you know that I sing. Spencer's probably heard me in the shower, I know Derek has heard me rap in the car." Caitlyn laughed, still lightly playing on the strings, "and when I was thinking about my vows, and since Spencer asked me to marry him I've been thinking about the beginning, and not the end. And I thought about how me and Spencer began, four years ago. And then I remembered that I wrote this song, two weeks after I met him, about how in love with him I was. I wrote about how I was so love struck, and now four years later he's my husband. And now this is the beginning for us, a new one. And I wanted to sing this here for you." she finished. She began to play the first chords of the verse, Spencer was looking up at her and she kept her eyes right on him.

"Alright, I'm really nervous so I'm just going to stare at you." she said into the mic, looking at Spencer as she began to sing.

 _"_ _Tall, dark and super man_

 _He puts papers in his briefcase and drives away_

 _To save the world or go to work_

 _It's the same thing to me_

 _He's got his mother's eyes, a lion's ambition_

 _I wonder if he knows how much that I miss him_

 _I hang on every word you say_

 _You'll smile and say "How are you?"_

 _And I'll say, "Just fine"_

 _I always forget to tell you I love you_

 _I'll love you forever_

 _I watched Superman fly away_

 _You've got a busy day today_

 _Go save the world_

 _I'll be around_

 _I watched Superman fly away_

 _Come back, I'll be with you someday_

 _I'll be right here on the ground_

 _When you come back down_

 _Tall, dark and beautiful_

 _He's complicated, he's so rational_

 _But I hope someday he'll take me away_

 _And save the day, yeah_

 _Something in his deep brown eyes has me saying_

 _He's not all good like his reputation_

 _And I can't hear one single word they say_

 _And you'll leave, got places to be_

 _And I'll be okay_

 _I always forget to tell you I love you_

 _I loved you from the very first day_

 _I watched Superman fly away_

 _You've got a busy day today_

 _Go save the world_

 _I'll be around_

 _And I watched Superman fly away_

 _Come back, I'll be with you someday_

 _I'll be right here on the ground_

 _When you come back down_

 _And I watch you fly around the world_

 _And I hope you don't chase another girl_

 _Don't forget, don't forget about me_

 _I'm far away, but I'll never let you go_

 _I'm lovestruck and looking out the window_

 _Don't forget, don't forget where I'll be_

 _Right here wishing the flowers were from you_

 _Wishing the card was from you_

 _Wishing the call was from you_

 _'Cause I've loved you from the very first day_

 _I watched Superman fly away_

 _You've got a busy day today_

 _Go save the world_

 _I'll be around forever and ever_

 _I watched Superman fly away_

 _I swear, I'll be with you someday_

 _I'll be right here on the ground_

 _When you come back down_

 _Come back down"_

When she finished she got off the stage and ran into Spencer's arms, he kissed her and they had their first dance as Mr. and Mrs. Reid. Once their first dance was over, they all drank and celebrated. It wasn't all the time that they could all be together and be so light hearted.

Caitlyn stood outside, Spencer was talking with his mom and she held a glass of champagne in her hand as she looked over the lake. Lifting her face up to the sky she closed her eyes and let out a big sigh of relief, a smile on her face.

"Am I interrupting anything?" Caitlyn heard someone ask from behind her. She turned to see Emily walking up behind her.

"No, just kind of taking it all in. I think this may be the happiest I've ever been and ever will be. I don't want it to end." Caitlyn answered. Emily looked at her friend, she didn't want to ruin this day for her.

"I…I just wanted to say that you sounded really good. And I'm really happy for you." Emily lied. She wasn't going to tell her that she was in trouble, yet.

"Cait! I need to get a few pictures of you and Spencer!" Diana called, already having Spencer her grip and a camera in her hand.

"Duty calls." Caitlyn smiled.

"I'll talk to you when you get back from your honeymoon." Emily hugged her.

"Honeymoon!?" Caitlyn grinned.

"Yeah, you're going to London."

"Oh NO WAY! Spencer!" Caitlyn squealed running to her new husband.


	25. I won't hurt you a bit

**A/N: Sorry it's been so long with an update and I'm sorry if you don't like the way that I have this all panned out I know its not in order but this is the way I wanted to write it so please review and I hope you enjoy it, I have so much I want to get to so some things I just have to shorten and get through.**

"Do we call Cait and Reid?" JJ asked, looking up at their their Unit Chief. He had called the team to assembly faster than he had ever done before. None of the agents even knew what they were doing there until they were on the jet. It was the Boston Reaper. One of the first cases that Hotch worked on as a lead investigator of the BAU.

"No. We can handle this on our own. We said we would give them two weeks off and I have faith that we can do this." Hotch said, filling the team in on the rest of the case.

xxxxx

There really is a lot of things that you can miss when you're newlywed and in love in London. The two were having the time of their life. Caitlyn had always dreamed and obsessed over London, and Spencer was loving seeing all of the old buildings and studying the maps and being able to visit old libraries. But being that it was their nature as workaholics, they always seemed to get on the topic of work.

"How do you think the team is doing?" Caitlyn asked, snuggled up next to Spencer under an umbrella to keep them sheltered from the rain.

"I don't know. When we left Hotch said that he wanted us to take this time and not think about work. We only have one honeymoon and there will be plenty of cases when we get back." Spencer said, repeating what their unit chief said word for word from his eidetic memory.

"Yeah, Rossi said something along the same lines to me. He said 'Don't worry theres going to be plenty of psychopaths when you get back, and then ten on top of that. Enjoy your time with that big annoying nerd.'" Caitlyn quoted, Spencer stopped in his tracks.

"He called me a big annoying nerd!?" he exclaimed and Caitlyn burst into a fit of laughter.

"No he didn't, but the other stuff he definitely said. But I think if it got really bad they would call us. But we should really enjoy this while we can. This place is beautiful, who knows when we'll get the chance to do something like this again." Caitlyn said, wrapping her hands around his waist.

"Hopefully every decade. But we're only newly married once." Spencer smiled.

"And we go home anyways, so we could keep seeing the sights for the last time. Or… we could order room service and spend the last night locked away in our room." Caitlyn winked.

"Yes, I choose option B." Spencer said raising his hand to hail a taxi. The two spent the rest of the night entangled in one another, drinking champagne and having dessert in bed.

xxxxxxx

"WHAT! THE REAPER!?" Caitlyn exclaimed. They had been back in town and in the office for not even ten minutes and Caitlyn felt her blood pressure rising through the roof. The second they walked into the door Spencer was taken into Hotch's office, probably to be informed on what happened while they were gone. Morgan, Rossi and Emily were filling Caitlyn in in the bullpen.

"And what the hell happened to you!?" Caitlyn said, grabbing Morgan's face in her hands and inspecting his wounds.

"Jeez woman," Morgan said, slapping her hands away from him, "I'm fine. I'm just a little… perturbed by the whole thing. Getting knocked through a window and your credentials taken doesn't make it easy to sleep at night."

"And the fact that he escaped… That really isn't going to make it easy." Caitlyn sighed.

xxxxxxx

A local doctor named Dr. Barton was threatened that his son was going to be killed, and that every day that his son was concealed another person was going to be killed. The team had just gotten off of another case and weren't running on a lot of sleep, but they took the case anyways. The odd thing was that the first person who usually was at the scene was nowhere to be found. No one could get ahold of Hotch. LC was written next to all of the victims and if Barton's son wasn't put into danger there would be a body a day. JJ tried one more time to reach Hotch and got yet another voice message. The team made their way to Dr. Burton's house.

"Do you think that it's odd that Hotch isn't answering?" Caitlyn whispered to Spencer as they got into the Sedan.

"Maybe something happened, if he's not answering it's something important." Spencer stated.

"Or something is wrong." Caitlyn sighed.

xxxxxx

The agents arrived to the doctor's house, they asked about the threat. The mother died when he was younger. The team had to piece together how this person fit into his life. Even though he had been asked so many times he could not think of anyone with the initials LC. During the interrogation the son had snuck out and gone to school. The agents were now in a frenzy, he was now in the position that the un sub wanted him in.

"We're going to go to the school to make sure that he's safe." JJ told Burton with Morgan and Rossi standing behind her.

"We're going to have SSA Prentiss, SSA Reid and Doctor Reid stay here and help you go over the case files incase there is anything that you might have not seen before." Rossi said.

"They're brother and sister?" Burton asked.

"No, they're married." Morgan answered, the doctor raised his brow.

"Trust us, we know." Rossi said, "we promise your son will be safe."

There were so many case files to go over it seemed almost impossible. No matter how many restrictions or variables they put in and out of play it seemed like there was no connection that could be made. Caitlyn really was trying to help looking through the case files, but all she could think about was Hotch. There was something that wasn't sitting well in her stomach. Emily and Reid were definitely more qualified, Caitlyn wasn't nearly as skilled as they were. They were also on a time schedule until his son got out of school.

"There are too many files to profile in such amount of time. I could get to Hotch's and come back. We need more eyes." Caitlyn said standing up. Prentiss gave her a nod as Caitlyn walked by, squeezing Spencer's hand as they did when they separated and had to be professional.

Caitlyn walked quickly up to Hotch's building, locking the Sedan behind her. She stopped at his door knocking softly at first and then a little harder. She had never really been to Hotch's house other than a time a while ago when Haley invited over some of the girl agents to release some stress, and she definitely hadn't been to his apartment since they split. She knocked one more time when she realized that the door was open. She instantly reached for her gun in her holster, pulling it out and pointing it to the ground. She kicked the door and saw that there was a sign on a struggle, holes in the wall and blood on the carpet. Her heart sank. With more and more of her movements she found that something had happened and Hotch was gone. She instantly called Garcia.

"Hello, small, blonde and powerful one." she greeted.

"Garcia I need you to listen to me very carefully, something has happened to Hotch."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm at his house and Hotch is gone and there's blood. I need people here. And I have to tell Spencer because he's expecting me back but you can not tell the others they can't lose focus." Caitlyn said to the now panicking technician. Caitlyn was panicking herself but the last thing she wanted to do was stir up an already shaken Garcia. After she hung up Caitlyn shakily dialed Spencer's number.

"Hey!" he answered.

"Babe something is wrong. Hotch is gone, I think someone took him."

"What… what are you talking about?"

"There's a huge hole in the wall, probably a 44 but no blood spray around it." Caitlyn explained looking at the scene.

"Any idea how he got out?" Reid inquired.

"If he was shot there were no drag marks… But then the body could have been wrapped in something." Caitlyn said, her stomach feeling sick at the idea of Hotch being wrapped and dragged away.

"Are the techs on their way?" He asked.

"Yeah, they should be here any second. Write down everything you see and we'll go over your notes when you get back. Don't forget, you're a good profiler. I love you." he assured her, knowing that she doubted herself and would especially in a situation like this.

"I love you too. Take care of Dr. Burton. Don't worry about me, I've got this covered." she said hanging up the phone and beginning to further investigate the scene. It had seemed like ages when she finally got the call from Garcia. Caitlyn answered her phone in the middle of the first ring.

"Talk to me Garcia." Caitlyn spoke into the speaker.

"So Hotch wasn't admitted but someone dropped a John Doe off at a hospital by an FBI agent and that FBI agent was named Derek Morgan." Penelope said.

"That doesn't make sense?"

"I know," Garcia agreed, "do you think they got their credentials messed up?" Caitlyn thought for a second, racking her mind for details until it finally hit her like a ton of bricks.

"The Reaper. Foyet took Morgan's creds- what hospital did you say he was at?" Caitlyn asked quickly, after the analyst told her Caitlyn assured her that she would give her a call as soon as she got there. Full of adrenaline and fear of the Reaper, Caitlyn turned on her lights and sped to the hospital. Caitlyn ran in and flashed her badge asking to see the John Doe, the nurse took her to the room and Caityn's heart sank in her chest. He had been stabbed multiple times and was hooked up on too many machines for her to count. Her jaw dropped on the floor and she was lucky to have a chair near her next to Hotch's bed. She had never seen him so… helpless.

"When will he wake up?" Caitlyn asked looking down at him.

"The meds should wear off in a few hours. He's bound to be out of it." The nurse answered. Caitlyn looked down at Hotch,

"May I stay here?" she asked, and the nurse granted her request. Caitlyn's phone rang and she stepped out of the office. The team was calling in the SWAT until to the school and needed her to call the incident commander in order to bypass most of the steps of the process that would usually make getting the team there take atleast half an hour. It was hard not to give away what was happening especially with the monitors beeping behind her. She called her commander quickly and told him she didn't have time to explain and the unit was immediately dispatched.

Caitlyn walked back into Hotch's room, picking up his medical chart, next to Hotch's name she saw the initial's L.C. She immediately went to the nurse to figure out what it stood for. As soon as she got her answer she called Spencer.

"Hello?" he said.

"L.C" Caitlyn exclaimed.

"What?" Spencer asked.

"L.C. It's on Hotch's chart, it stands for living children!"

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes! It's administrative it's for parents who may go on life support and they don't have a D and R in order." Caitlyn confirmed, Reid was silent. "Babe?"

"What if the un sub was saying that Burton was the target and he was going to leave his son without a father…" Spencer trailed off, "where are you going!?" What she thought she heard was a gunshot firing followed.

"Spencer! Answer me!" she said into the phone. This could not be happening again. They were just in London, eating chocolate strawberries in bed and now her unit chief had been stabbed by an escaped serial killer and her husband was on the other end of a phone call where she heard gun shots. Caitlyn hung up the phone as quickly as she could to get an ambulance over to Spencer all while looking over Hotch. It was like she was on the sickest reality show ever. The worst part was was that she couldn't call any other member of the team. So she sat next to her possibly dying unit chief in the same position as she did in the waiting room when Spencer got infected with the anthrax. Her phone vibrated in her pocket when she saw Morgan walk up, she checked her texts first. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw it was from Spencer.

 _I got shot in the leg…oops._

She let out a sigh of relief and shook her head, standing up as the other agents approached.

"He still isn't conscious yet." Caitlyn said as she saw the look of horror reach each one of her team member's faces.

"It was Foyet?" Rossi asked, Caitlyn nodded.

"He had Morgan's credentials."

"You've been here a while, how about you go to your husband. He pulled a real hero move, you're rubbing off on him little shot." Morgan said trying to force a small smile in light of the darkest situation. Caitlyn nodded and then took one look at Hotch and headed to Spencer.

xxxxxx

When she arrived at the hospital onlookers must have been extremely confused seeing the way that the situation panned out. It definitely wasn't the usual encounter between a husband and wife where one had gotten shot. Caitlyn walked up to the reception desk.

"Hi, I'm here to see Spencer Reid." she said.

"Are you family?" the nurse responded.

"I'm his wife." Caitlyn said, for the first time since she had gotten married.

"Right this was Mrs. Reid." The nurse motioned her, Caitlyn never heard that either. When she got to the room she saw Spencer sitting in the hospital bed, leg propped up and watching General Hospital, happily spooning red jello in his mouth.

"Come on Spencer, now you've gotten shot!" Caitlyn said lifting her hands in the air and then slapping them to her sides.

"Hey well at least I didn't almost get blown up and a concussion from a piece of wood like _someone_ I know." Spencer grinned. Caitlyn sighed and walked over to the side of his bed.

"I guess this is way better than anthrax poisoning." Caitlyn smiled, kissing him on the lips. Both of them unaware that their conversation was overheard by most of the staff and visitors in the hospital and they were staring at the couple mouths open so wide their jaws could touch the floor.

"So I'm guessing you're going to be on crutches." Caitlyn said looking at his medical chart.

"I'm not sure for how long, and a brace for my knee." Spencer added, brushing his hair out of his face, it had grown so long all the way down to his shoulders, Caitlyn loved how poetic it made him look.

"The nurse called me Mrs. Reid." Caitlyn smiled.

"I love that you are Mrs. Reid." Spencer gleamed, Caitlyn picked up his chart once more.

"You're not going to be able to fly for a while." Caitlyn said, "until you're cleared."

"Well… I am a doctor so, I think I'll be okay." Spencer said quietly.

"And you think anyone is going to go for that?" Caitlyn raised a brow.

"Well I'm not going to bring it up, and you're married to me so you're kind of bound to be on my side and keep my secrets." Spencer said, pulling her back over by him by her arm. When she reached him he grabbed her towards him with power, lacing his fingers through her hair and kissing her deeply. Caitlyn let out a soft moan as he sucked on her bottom lip and she pressed her chest against him, her tongue entering his mouth. She let out another moan as he tugged on her hair, deepening the kiss. She completely forgot they were in a hospital room until she heard his heart rate monitor start beeping wildly as she trailed her hand down his chest and towards his pelvis. They pulled back quickly and laughed.

"So I know your knee is hurt and all but everything… _else_ is okay right?" she said suggestively. Spencer smiled,

"Yeah, it's fine. You may have to be a little gentle with me but we'll work around it."

"Oh don't worry Doctor, I won't hurt you a bit."


	26. Best Friends

**AN: Hi! Did you miss me! Sorry I haven't updated but I got a review and it made me want to update- see how that works, reviews lead to updates! But this is really a lot more of a filler chapter because I really LOVED the new last season and wanted to get there so I can start working in with that. So please review, and enjoy and sorry if it was rushed. We'll get back into cases next chapters! And I was really trying to get this done before I had to start getting ready for work so, I'm sorry if it's rushed :O**

Caitlyn stood outside, the radio that she was using to signal and communicate with the SWAT team barely holding in her hand as it hung limply at her side. It seemed like everything was silent as she stood at the front door of Hotch's house. She could hear everything that was going on but it seemed muffled. Spencer ran from out of the house shaking his head.

"It isn't good." He frowned.

"Is she dead?" Caitlyn responded and Spencer shook his head in response. The Ripper had gotten Haley and in return Hotch got The Ripper.

xxxxxxxx

Spencer and Caitlyn were both silent as they drove home. Caitlyn didn't know what to say, she felt so bad for Hotch and couldn't even imagine what he was going through. All she could think of was that at least Jack was okay. When they got home Caitlyn unlocked the door and threw the keys onto the table, as she went to head to take a shower she felt a tug at her arm. Spencer grabbed Caitlyn by her wrist and pulled her into a tight hug, Caitlyn closed her eyes and breathed into his chest, wrapping her arms around him.

"Spencer… I can't breathe, baby." Caitlyn muffled into his chest.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Spencer apologized, loosening his grip, "I just can't imagine what Hotch feels like. I don't know what I would do if that happened to you."

"I know it's awful. But we've made it through a lot and after everything I think you'd be impossible to get rid of. And I'm indestructible, remember?" Caitlyn smiled up at him.

"That's what scares me sometimes, you believe that you are." Spencer frowned.

"Let's just be happy that we're together, okay? I love you, so much." Caitlyn said, going up on her tip toes and kissing his lips softly.

xxxx

Time had passed, the two leaned on each other as they weeped at Haley's funeral and the team got on as much as they could while Hotch was away. Cases were solved and eventually Hotch was able to come back to work. One of the things that was bothering Caitlyn the most was how distant Emily was acting. The two would always have wine nights and have time where they would be together- but she seemed paranoid for some reason.

Caitlyn sat at her desk in the bullpen, staring at files that were on her desk and paperwork that had seemed to grow every time she looked at it and looked away. She clenched a can of Ginger Ale that was sitting on her desk.

"Are you feeling better?" Spencer asked, leaning on her desk. Caitlyn had been feeling sick recently and this morning her breakfast didn't agree with her. She contributed it to the weather changing, she always got a little sick whenever it got colder.

"Yeah, my stomach has just been feeling a little iffy. I'm sorry I threw up on your shoes." She apologized not looking him in the eyes. There had been a lot of things going on, Emily had confided in her about her secret past and about Ian Doyle. Not liking to keep secrets, Caitlyn contributed that along with all of the other stressors that had been piling up to her sickness.

"It's fine, I have to go ask Garcia something, I'll grab you a bagel or something since your breakfast didn't sett-", Spencer started only to be interrupted by Caitlyn holding one hand over her mouth and the other in the air.

"No. No please, just the thought of eating makes me want to throw up again." Caitlyn responded as Spencer rattled off statistics and possible illnesses and reasons as to why she was feeling ill. Unknowing to the two, JJ was listening from around the corner and slid into Spencers space as he left.

"Hmmm… this looks EXTREMELY familiar." JJ said suggestively. Caitlyn looked up at her as she took a sip of ginger-ale.

"What? What do you mean?" Caitlyn responded.

"Well, for starters, you're drinking ginger-ale. Have you been feeling sick lately?" JJ asked.

"Yeah, but I think it's just a bunch of um… stress and it's not constant. What are you getting at? Are you profiling me or something?" Caitlyn inquired as she watched JJ open the drawer to her desk, revealing a sleeve of saltine crackers. Now things were starting to click in her head.

"Hey Cait, when was the last time you had your period?"

"Oh my god. JJ I'm fine, women can miss periods due to high levels of stress it's normal, I'm fine."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The home of the Reid's that was usually lively with the curtains drawn back and books scattered around was dark. The only thing that was bright were some of the flowers that were in vases that had not yet lost all of the color to their life. Not a thing was moving except for the rise and fall of the blankets with each breath that Caitlyn took, hidden under the comforter. There was no sound, no movement. Caitlyn laid wrapped up, staring straight ahead. It had been almost month since Emily had died. It had been almost a month since Caitlyn followed her best friend to take down the man that was haunting her. With her SWAT training and Emily being equipped like a bad ass spy the two were the most qualified, and with Caitlyn's loyalty she would have and did everything she could for her friend. She just didn't know that she would die, and that she herself would be hurt in the process and have to wait and watch and hope for help as her best friend bled out. She will never forget the panic in Morgan's voice as he called for back up. She will never forget the look on Spencer's face as she laid in the hospital bed and the doctor told her that she was pregnant- and that the baby neither of them knew existed was gone.

Caitlyn didn't move as she heard the door open to their apartment. Hotch had given both Caitlyn and Spencer time off to deal, but the unit Chief knew that Caitlyn may need more time. Caitlyn heard Spencer go through his usual routine, the sound of his keys hanging on the hook, his messenger bag thumping down on the table, the sound of his shoes hitting the floor as his steps coming towards the room.

"Cait." He said softly from the doorway. The second that she heard his voice she instantly began to cry again. The young genius walked over to the bed, laying down fully clothed and wrapped her in his arms, which in turn made her cry harder.

"Caitlyn. You have to get out of bed."

"Spencer, I- I-" she started, not being able to finish her sentence due to the increase in the tears and the lack of being able to catch her breath. She felt Spencer grab her by her shoulders and turn her around, she couldn't even look him in the eye. But the young genius placed a finger lightly under her chin to bring their eyes to meet. To her surprise his dark eyes were moist as well.

"This isn't your fault. None of this is your fault. And seeing you like this… It's killing me.", he whispered.

"She died right infront of me, there was nothing I could do, she's my best friend. She trusted me and I let her down. And the baby, oh god!" She wailed quickly moving closer to the young doctor and crying into his chest, it was as if she wanted to crawl inside of him and couldn't get close enough.

"Caitlyn." Spencer started, she could feel his chest move with light sobs, "I love you more than anything in the whole world. We didn't know you were pregnant. And you know what, that doesn't mean that we will never have a family and that you will never be pregnant again. I know that you're not going to believe me now and it's awful to grieve, but I will have a family with you. And we will have the best family. Our son will be smart and so loved."

"Who said we were going to have a boy?" Caitlyn sniffled, looking up at Spencer who wiped the tears from her face.

"Our son, or daughter will be smart and stubborn," he joked with a sad smile, earning a small smile in return from Caitlyn.

"I love you so much, and on our wedding day I vowed to be your husband and your best friend. It's going to be okay. So please, let's get you in the shower and we can even get sushi even though Japa-", Spencer started, but Caitlyn cut him off, not wanting to hear his rant about the water and this and that about the fish and the Mercury and what was going on in the Japanese oceans.

"Ok." Caitlyn agreed.

Spencer smiled, going to run a bath for Caitlyn and helped get her undressed and into the tub. Caitlyn held her knees to her chest as Spencer used a cup to run the water over her and wash through her hair and then helped get her changed into some clean clothes. Caitlyn stared at herself in the mirror, eyes puffy from crying as she saw Spencer come from behind and stand behind her.

"We are the Reid's, for some reason the worst things happen to us, but we always have each other and we always make it work." Spencer said, holding her tightly.

"I'll go back to the BAU tomorrow."


	27. That's Marriage I Guess

**A/N: WOAH! Another update! Is this the beginning of an updating streak?! I know that there have been a lot of suggestions and I really appreciate them, and I'm sorry if some of these chapters seemed rushed I'm just trying to get to certain points without missing very important parts. I wasn't sure if I was going to really get into Spencer's headaches because I really wanted to get to this part of the story and I have so many other things planned ahead that I want to get to and that I hope you'll really like! So please, review review, I really appreciate them all and love the detail that you all give! The more reviews the more I want to update! So thank you again for all of you who are still reading and those who have added this to their favorites and have began reading! Here we go.**

Caitlyn let out a sigh as she zipped up a very familiar and easily recognizable pair of heeled boots. The boots that once held a woman who was strong, a woman who gave her hope. They were given to Caitlyn seeing as though she was the closest to Prentiss and Spencer suggested that she wore them as a reminder that Prentiss would want her to walk on; she would want her to continue in her footsteps, strong. Caitlyn laced her fingers through her hair and rested her head in her hands.

"Hey," Spencer called from the doorway, holding the strap of his messenger bag in his hand.

"How's you head?" Caitlyn asked. Spencer had been dealing with headaches recently, causing him to crawl into the bed when Caitlyn couldn't even move due to her depression.

"Not too bad." He smiled weakly in response, running his hand over his head. He had recently cut off his long locks against Caitlyn's protest.

"Okay, I think I'm ready to go back." Caitlyn said, standing up and looking in the mirror. She was still the same person, but she stood so weakly in those boots. Emily would have told her to get over it with a smirk. Spencer came behind her and placed his hands on her stomach.

"What are you doing?" Caitlyn asked as the young doctor kneeled down. He closed his eyes and kissed her stomach, looking up at her.

"We're going to try again, and it's going to happen for us." he smiled up at her.

"Come on, let's go, don't make me cry before we get into the office!" She said pulling him up by his arms and kissing him lightly.

xxxxxxxxx

Caitlyn was welcomed warmly back into the BAU, Garcia- even though she had sent her plenty of gift baskets- ran up and gave the young agent a smaller basket of her favorite things.

"Welcome back! I love you and I missed you and did I say I love you!" Garcia rattled.

"Caitlyn." A voice called from behind her, she turned around to see Derek Morgan.

"Hey!" She smiled, only to see that his face was like stone and serious. "What's happening?"

"I have some things you might want to see." Morgan informed her.

Derek filled her in on all the information that he had secretly gotten about Doyle and his whereabouts.

"Are you in?" Derek asked.

"Let's fucking get him." Caitlyn responded.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

After days of the operation they had finally gotten Doyle into custody.

"Are you okay?" Spencer asked as Caitlyn stared at him through the window.

"Yes." Caitlyn responded shortly, tapping the heels of one of Emily's boots. "I want to go in there and talk to him."

"You know that you can't do that, you're too emotional and too attached." Spencer responded.

"He killed my best friend." Caitlyn began, shaking, "He killed our baby."

"I know… but you know there's a right way to do things and we have him now." Spencer responded before they were called into their meeting room.

Their unit chief stoof at the head of the table as the agents piled in.

"Hey Hotch, nice beard." Caitlyn couldn't help herself, even with the severity of the situation.

"Thanks. Everybody have a seat." Hotch began, "7 months ago I made a decision that affected this team. As you all know Emily had lost a lot of blood after her fight with Doyle. But the doctors were able to stabilize her."

"WHAT." Caitlyn fired shooting from her seat. She was going to throw up, the world was spinning around her and she was flooded with so many emotions that she didn't even have one to choose from.

"She was air lifted and her identity was strictly need to know. She stayed in a secure location until she was okay to travel, and then she was reassigned in Paris where she had several identities, none of which we had for her security." Hotch continued.

"She's alive?" Penelope asked with tears in her eyes. Caitlyn fell back into her seat, looking over at Spencer. She could see the emotions and the thoughts going through his brain so loud it was as if she could hear them. Caitlyn was hurt, so hurt. Why wouldn't Emily tell her this? But she felt… relief. It was like a miracle, she knew Emily and she knew that if she would have been able to tell her that she would have. Caitlyn was understanding in that way, but she knew that Spencer would take it differently. Of course she would have to listen to her explanation but if somehow Emily was alive- that would be enough for her. Caitlyn choked back her tears and grabbed Spencer's hand tightly.

"We buried her…" Spencer stated, confused.

"As I said I was responsible for this decision, if anyone has any issues they should be directed towards me." Hotch responded.

"Well, where is she." Caitlyn asked as she heard footsteps approaching behind her. First she heard Penelope,

"Oh my god."

Caitlyn turned to see Emily Prentiss standing in the doorway. That was it, the tears started to flow down her face and she began to sob. She felt Spencer's arm wrap around her.

"I am so sorry, I really am, not a day went by that I didn't want to…" Emily began and then Caitlyn heard her footsteps come towards her. All the other agents had stood up to hug her, but Caitlyn couldn't even move.

"Oh, Cait…" Emily said coming over to where she sat, Caitlyn looked up at her and then latched onto her so tightly she herself was afraid that she would break her in half.

"Emily… god. I had so much to tell you, I talked to you. I talked to you when I thought you were in heaven, I stood outside like an idiot talking to the stars, begging them to bring you back…" Caitlyn cried.

"Really? I bet you did look pretty crazy." Emily joked, Caitlyn let out a snicker, happy to have her smart retorts back in her life.

"Yeah well… I now have your favorite boots so we can kind of be even and you're really going to have to make it up to me."

"I will, and none of you deserved this and I'll explain, but I need to know what's going on with Declan." Emily stated.

The agents filled Emily in about the case and in the end Doyle was finally dead, and his son was saved.

xxxxxx

The car ride home was silent, Caitlyn drove as Spencer stared out the window.

"Alright, I saw the look on your face, the way you acted, how you hugged Emily and the way you looked at her and JJ. Spill, tell me what you think about all of this." Caitlyn urged him.

"I don't know what I think." Spencer responded.

"Well that's a first. We got Emily back." Caitlyn said.

"Did we?" Spencer mumbled.

When they arrived back to their apartment Caitlyn kicked off Emily's boots, not getting the same feeling that she did that morning and every morning prior when she put them on. Spencer sat on the edge of the bed, staring out of the window. Caitlyn crawled behind him and wrapped her arms around him from behind.

"Talk to me, please." she begged him.

"I don't even know what to talk about, Caitlyn. For starters we were lied to. By Emily and especially JJ, she knew this whole time." Spencer said, monotoned.

"Yeah, but Emily said that she would explain, and I think there had to have been a good reason." Caitlyn responded, sending Spencer shooting from the bed, standing to face her.

"A good reason? Good enough of a reason for JJ not to tell me when I went to her house to cry every day? Crying over the fact that Emily was dead and that my wife was in bed and I couldn't get her out. I couldn't even get you to move, or open the blinds. Was it good enough of a reason to not tell me when I was so afraid that _you_ who told me that you were indestructible, _you_ who was the one who was the tough one, the one who was strong couldn't even move!" Spencer yelled. Caitlyn's heart sunk in her chest, she was so depressed that she couldn't even get out of bed and was only thinking about herself. She knew that he was going and talking to JJ but she was too wrapped up in her own feelings that after the funeral she didn't even realize that Spencer was being strong for her and falling apart elsewhere.

"Spencer… I…" Caitlyn began.

"No! I don't think it's good enough of a _fucking reason!_ Maybe you're not smart enough to understand that or-" Spencer immediately stopped after the last part of his sentence. "I didn't mean that, I didn't mean it that way." he apologized. Caitlyn just looked down at her hands.

"I know. And you know what, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I can't be strong all the time, I'm sorry that I'm just happy to have Emily back and that I can tell her all the things that I've been wanting to tell her. And if that makes me stupid, fine! Then I guess I'm just some idiot because I can be happy when something good happens! Sorry I'm not _smart_ enough to understand that, but if being smart means that I also don't have compassion or understanding then I'd rather be stupid!" Caitlyn screamed, standing up and grabbing her pillow and blanket, slamming the door to their bedroom and making her way to the couch.

xxxxxxxx

Unable to sleep the whole night, Caitlyn unlatched the window and stepped out onto the ledge, which was covered by bars and made it a comfortable spot to sit. Caitlyn wrapped Spencer's robe- the only thing that was hanging in the living room since she had barged out- around her and placed her glass of wine on the windowsill. She heard her phone vibrate and she leaned down and grabbed it off the charger.

"You know I almost had a little bit of a heart attack and thought that you were calling me from the grave." Caitlyn smiled into the phone.

"That would have been impressive on my part."

"I missed you." Caitlyn sighed.

"I'm so sorry… and I'm so sorry about the baby." Emily said, and Caitlyn could hear her fighting back tears on the other end of the phone.

"It's okay… I mean, I was pretty destroyed by it. Seeing you die like that, I had nightmares of it for weeks. But I started to get better. And me and Spencer decided that if we have a girl we were going to name her Emma, kind of like Emily, but still after you." Caitlyn confessed.

"I'm so sorry." Emily apologized again.

"Well now that you're alive that's definitely not happening." Caitlyn joked, and she heard Emily cackle on the other end of the line. Four hours had passed of the two catching up and it was almost time until they would all have to head back into the office.

"We should get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow." Emily said on the other end of the phone.

"Yeah, I'll see you. Emily, I love you."

"I love you too."

Caitlyn hung up the phone and almost had a heart attack when she saw the shadow of Spencer standing in the hallway.

"Why would you scare me like that, jeez." Caitlyn grumbled, crawling back inside and locking the window and sitting on the couch.

"Are you really going to sleep there?" Spencer asked.

"Yeah." Caitlyn snapped at him. Spencer walked over to her and sighed, sitting on the couch.

"I listened to you for the last four hours, it was kind of hard not to." Spencer smiled lightly, but Caitlyn just looked straight ahead. He continued,

"Listen, I'm sorry. I don't know how girl bonds work and… when you were stuck in bed I was so afraid. That's what happened to my mom when her schizophrenia started. She would have days where she couldn't even get out of bed, and I was afraid that I had lost you and that I wasn't ever going to get you back. I was afraid that you were never going to be the same again. We have gone through so much and you have always been strong and always been okay, so I just was afraid. I know I think I know everything but I don't and…" Spencer said when Caitlyn cut him off.

"What was that last sentence?" Caitlyn said and Spencer rolled his eyes knowing exactly what she was getting at.

"…I know I think I know everything but I don't." Spencer mumbled.

"Okay, now that you've admitted it, go on." Caitlyn said with a smirk.

"And I maybe won't ever be able to understand how you can forgive easily and why I can't- but I'm not going to hold it against you. I am hurt and I am angry, but those are how I feel and I can't get mad because you don't feel the same." Spencer finished. Caitlyn turned to look at him,

"I'm sorry that I scared you, and I know I can't change your mind about being angry and because I know you, and you have to come to most conclusions yourself. So, at least I got to hear you admit that you don't know everything, I should have recorded that." Caitlyn sighed.

"Can you come sleep in the bed now?" The young doctor asked, standing up from the couch and holding his hand out. Caitlyn took it and smiled, following him into the bedroom and snuggling into him once they got into the bed.

"Thank god, I really didn't want to sleep on that couch, it's uncomfortable we need to get a new one." Caitlyn yawned into her husband.

"You're a strange one, Mrs. Reid." Spencer yawned as well.

"Well Mr. Reid sometimes I swear you drive me insane, one day I could be an un-sub."

"That's marriage I guess." he smiled.

"What do you mean?" Caitlyn asked.

"The idea of being killed by you doesn't bother me at all, because that would mean that you would be the last thing I would see and feel before I died." Spencer responded.

"Aw, that was cute and very morbid, and you said I was the strange one." Caitlyn responded, giving him a peck on the neck before finally falling asleep.


	28. Supervision

**A/N: Wow, I liked this chapter a lot, actually! I just loved the end! Thank you so much for all of those who have been reviewing I don't know what made me want to write but lets hope that it keeps going! Please review and I'm sorry if it seems like things are going fast and I'm skipping things that are important but I just reaaaaallllly want to get to the good stuff and the BIG moment where you guys are gonna be like OH MY GOD. And that occurs in like Season 10 if I'm going by the episodes! But don't worry we won't miss the good parts of Season 8 and 9. Well maybe some but, sorry some things just gotta be skipped and I mean it's fan fiction and I am trying to get all the key parts but sometimes it just doesn't work that way! And my urges to write come and go so… be happy with it! Well enjoy and review! The more reviews the more updates for you!**

 _You took the time to memorize me_

 _My fears, my hopes, and dreams_

 _I just like hanging out with you, all the time_

 _All those times that you didn't leave_

 _It's been occurring to me I'd like to hang out with you, for my whole life_

 _Stay, and I'll be loving you for quite some time_

 _No one else is going to love me, when I get mad, mad mad_

 _So I think that it's best if we both stay._

 _~"Stay" Taylor Swift_

Caitlyn was awoken by Spencer grumbling as he did in the morning making a pot of coffee. She groaned and got out of bed, stretching as she yawned and put on her robe.

"Goodmorning," she grumbled, walking over to the shower. Spencer responded the same greeting as Caitlyn got into the shower, as she washed herself she heard the bathroom door open and the _clink_ of a coffee cup on the bathroom counter. Spencer knew that she wasn't a morning person and before her coffee she was the equivalent of a demon. Caitlyn got out of the shower, dried her hair and finished her cup of coffee before emerging and getting dressed. She clad herself in black pants which she tucked into her own trusty pair of boots, a long sleeved white shirt which she tucked in and secured her pants with a black belt.

"Ah okay. I'm awake now." Caitlyn told the genius, informing him that she was out of her angry morning fog.

"Ok, good." he kissed her, folding up the paper and rattling on about what he had read and the various thoughts and discoveries he had come up with and the government reports from the neighboring states that he had read.

"Okay, time to get back to work." Caitlyn sighed, grabbing her black blazer and putting it around her shoulders, "and Emily is going to be there, and JJ!"

"Great. I can barely hide my enthusiasm." he grumbled.

"Come on, Spence." Caitlyn cooed him, wrapping her arms around his waist and looking up at him, "at least try and think about the good in all of this."

"And forget about how because of her actions we lost our baby and then I was basically traumatized and JJ watched, did you know that 2 in 5…" Spencer began to rattle.

"Nevermind," Caitlyn said with an eye-roll, "you'll come around to it eventually."

"So you finished the course?" Prentiss inquired as she, Caitlyn and JJ walked through the halls of the BAU, which JJ confirmed.

"Hotch said he's never seen a rookie profiler analyze and write up cases as well as you, and that's saying something because I was pretty awesome." Caitlyn joked.

"He said that?" JJ asked.

"Yeah, well with all those cases you selected and presented over the years I'm not surprised. The only thing I knew when I started was what I learned from psychology in school and the aftermath after the doors were kicked down and the aftermath after the smoke bombs cleared and the hours and hours of waiting and watching and waiting to finally go in." Caitlyn reminisced. As they were walking down the hallway the elevator opened and the young doctor emerged, instantly looking down at the case file in his hand when he saw the trio.

"Hey," JJ called, "where have you been all this weekend I've been trying to do brunch." Caitlyn knew that Spencer was dodging her calls, and even though she was stubborn she was convinced the only person in the world who was more so was her husband. He didn't even look up from the file as he continued walking.

"I had a lot of stuff to deal with, have you seen Garcia?" he answered not looking up and not slowing his pace.

"Uhm, she's with Rossi…" JJ called after him, "he hates me."

"Oh he was just busy," Emily tried to comfort her, "let it go."

"Well I mean he does kind of hate you right now… but not like the deep down hate, it's like a love hate like the he'll get over it kind of… maybe. You know what listen to Emily, let it go." Caitlyn stammered.

xxxxx

After all of the agents decided they were going to have a cooking lesson at Rossi's, unit chief Hotchner stopped the banter and instructed Garcia to begin. In Oklahoma two women had been found sexually assaulted and then blinded with sulfuric acid.

"Both are very low risk victims," Morgan said.

"And physically similar, young and he likes his blondes, at least he has one good choice in all of this." Caitlyn said, getting an eye roll from Spencer who knew she was a proud blonde and brunette disapprover and a sharp look from Hotch.

Abduction sites were five miles apart at bus stops, and the dump sites were in an alley and a field. The victims eyes were stapled open and then the victims were blinded.

"It could be about shame, blinding them could mean that the un sub uses this as some manifestation of how he sees himself in the world. Blinded and unable to do anything." The doctor inquired.

"Wheels up in 30." Hotch answered. He exited first as all the agents got ready to get home and grab their go bags.

"I'm going to stay here, could you grab my go bag when you're there and I'll meet you back here and we can go to the airport." Spencer asked as the rest of the agents filed out.

"Yeah sure, babe. But come on, don't you think you were a little harsh on JJ?" Caitlyn asked him.

"Caitlyn… just please… ok?"  
"Ok, ok."

xxxxx

Spencer and JJ were split up to go look at the abduction site, Caitlyn and JJ's eyes met instantly when it happened but she quickly looked down when Hotch assigned her to go with Morgan and Prentiss. Her heart skipped a beat, the three amigos back at it. Caitlyn's phone vibrated in her pocket, it was from JJ.

 _Yeah, he hate hates me._

A new body had turned up and Caitlyn, Reid, JJ and Rossi were sent to the site of the new body. Caitlyn kneeled down at the body, and pulled down her mouth. Sometimes she wondered why she was so comfortable doing something like this, but pushed the thought to the back of her mind as usual.

"Well, he burned her tongue with the chemical this time." She stated.

"Historically this kind of torture was used to keep someone from revealing some kind of secret." The young doctor said.

"Maybe she offended him." JJ added.

"Wonder what that's like." Spencer shot, Caitlyn glanced over at him quickly, but he avoided eye contact.

"Well these clothes are definitely from the 80's so that must mean something to him. Maybe the one who hurt him was from that time and he's taking revenge." Caitlyn thought aloud.

"What made him start doing it now?" The assisting officer asked.

"Well something probably happened to him and instead of dealing with it he's acting out." JJ said coldly, staring at Reid who stared back at her stone faced.

After they had delivered the profile, Caitlyn stood with the rest of the agents, bouncing ideas off of one another about where to go next in the investigation but stopped when she and the rest of the agents overheard a conversation between him and JJ.

"I get it, you're disappointed about the way we handled things with Emily," JJ began as Spencer ignored her and tried to gather the files on the table quickly.

"Look I have a lot going on, alright!" Spencer answered, turning towards the door to leave.

"You know what I think it is," JJ started, "me and Hotch controlled our micro expressions and you weren't able to detect our deception."

"You think this is about my profiling skills?" Spencer responded, "Jennifer the only reason you were able to manage my perceptions was because I _trusted_ you. I came over to your house for weeks, crying because I lost a friend. Crying because I lost my child and that my wife wasn't moving out of bed and I was terrified. And not once did you have the decency to tell me the truth."

"I couldn't." JJ answered, starting to tear up.

"You couldn't!? Or you wouldn't!"

"No I _couldn't_ "

"What if I started taking dilaudid again? Would you have let me?" Spencer asked?

"You didn't!" JJ fired back.

"Well I thought about it." he answered, turning to leave again.

"Spence… I'm sorry." she called after him and the young doctor raised his hands in the air.

"It's too late, alright!" He answered, turning away.

"Reid!" Prentiss called after him, Caitlyn looked at Hotch who gave her a nod and she ran after him.

"Spencer! Spencer!" she called after him and he stopped to face her.

"What!" he yelled back at her.

"Hey, you don't have to yell at me. I understand you're upset but you didn't have to-" Caitlyn started but he cut her off.

"You know what Caitlyn, you didn't know! You were too busy in a hole of oblivion to know what was going on! I thought that I could be okay with you just going and forgiving Emily but you know what, I can't! I'm angry! I'm hurt and you're supposed to take my side no matter what." Spencer snapped at her.

"But I-" Caitlyn tried to start again.

"But nothing, I would have your side even if you were wrong and you know what go ahead and forgive them. But I'm not and now I don't even know if I can forgive you." The young doctor finished before storming away. Caitlyn stood alone as she walked him walk away and then turned back to join the other agents.

"Is he okay? You look upset are you okay?" Emily asked.

"Let's just catch this guy." Caitlyn answered.

xxxxxxxxxx

They had finally caught the un-sub it turned out that he was mentally handicapped and was taking the victims because he was trying to get a specific target, Tammy. After her senior homecoming everyone had been drinking, and they played spin the bottle and she kissed him. Giving him the wrong impression and causing him to stalk her, and then over heard her talking badly about him. Turns out all of the victims resembled Tammy and her recent engagement triggered him to start the killings. They found the un-sub and then there was a hard time trying to find Tammy which they eventually did. Along with the tape that the un sub took of him torturing Tammy.

xxxxxxxx

Caitlyn sat away from Spencer on the plane ride home. He didn't talk to her for the remainder of the investigation and it felt weird not having his head to rest her shoulder on or to listen to him lightly reading under his breath. Caitlyn saw Emily walk up to him in the seats behind her. She strained her hearing to listen.

"So the surgeon said that he'll be able to restore the movement and feeling in Tammy's hands." Prentiss began.

"Good, we got there in time." Reid responded, followed by a long silence.

"Mr. Bradstone wants to watch the tape."

"People have the innate curiosity to see things in order to confirm them."

"Oh, that explains why I'm going to Rossi's tomorrow night. I want to see if he really can cook. You coming?" Caitlyn could hear the smile in Emily's voice.

"I don't know, I'm not so sure I can make it." he answered. Caitlyn let out a soft sigh.

"Look, Reid, I know you're mad at us, because we didn't tell you what really happened and I understand that. But I promise you we had no choice. You mourned the loss of a child and a friend, I mourned the loss of a god child and 7." Emily paused and let out a sigh, "This whole thing gave me an ulcer, please don't give me another one. Are you gonna go to Rossi's tomorrow?"

"We'll see."

Caitlyn hadn't talked to Spencer at all when they got home, he locked himself away in his study and didn't come out once. Whenever Caitlyn tried to knock on the door there was no answer, but she would leave him food outside of the door and would see it was gone whenever she passed by after she was away for a while. She finished getting ready to go to Rossi's, clad in a black dress with a low cut and long sleeves.

"Spencer," she called, "I'm going to Rossi's, please come." No reply.

xxxxxxxx

"Hey! Welcome!" Rossi called out when Caitlyn arrived at the door, she held up a bottle of wine that she had bought on the way over.

"One of the Reid's has arrived!" He called and Caitlyn smiled as she saw the rest of her team.

"He's not coming?" Emily asked her, handing her a glass of wine.

"I don't think so, he hasn't talked to me since the fight at the police station." Caitlyn sighed.

"Hey! Time to pay attention!" Rossi called, beginning to start his cooking lesson. Her heart sank, there really wasn't a lot of times where all the team could be together and acting so light hearted. She really wished that Spencer could be here, she went to take a sip of wine.

"Hey! Bambina! No wine yet!" Rossi chided her.

"Sorry!" Caitlyn apologized with an eye roll. Caitlyn loved watching Rossi in the kitchen, she remembered her Papa cooking, being half italian herself and her mom's side being full Italian. Everyone stopped as the doorbell rang.

"I got it." Morgan said, trotting to the door and Rossi continued with his lesson.

"Sorry I'm late." Caitlyn heard the familiar voice behind her and the young genius smiled at her and took a step between her and JJ who he traded a smile with as well.

"So when do we get to drink the wine?" Emily asked, that's why she was her best friend. Caitlyn felt Spencer slide his hand into hers.

"We're going to all cook our own, but we're going to do it all together, as a family." Rossi answered.

"Ok, now?" Caitlyn asked.

"Now, salute!" Rossi cheered, proposing a toast. They all clashed their glasses together and took a slip, and Spencer pulled her in by the small of her back and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"You were right, and you know me. I did come around." he mumbled with a smile into her lips.

"Hey, hey! Enough smootchin and get to cookin!" Rossi commanded.

"Ah it's still so cute I don't think I'll ever get over them." Garcia commented.

"I'll never get over the fact that Reid got married before I did." Morgan joked, causing Caitlyn to throw an al dente noodle at him.

"No throwing of pasta in the cucina! Don't make me put you both in time out!" Rossi scolded Caitlyn and Morgan.

"Sorry, sorry. Let's cook!" Caitlyn grinned.

"How about you and I do ours together…" Spencer said to her softly.

"What you're saying is you do the cooking because mine would be a disaster?" Caitlyn squinted at him, the young doctor coming behind her and putting his arms around her to begin following Rossi's instructions.

"Yes. And you would probably set Rossi's kitchen on fire and I don't think he would be happy with that." he answered.

"Good idea, you are a geniu-"

"I know." He said before she could finish her sentence.

"I'll supervise." she smiled up at him as he started to follow Rossi's instructions from behind her, giving her a peck on the cheek, as Caitlyn sipped on her glass of wine.


	29. Double Shock

**A/N: Thank you so much for all the reviews that I have been getting I appreciate them a lot! Now this chapter was definitely not one of my favorite things to write and I feel like it wasn't my best. I have also decided to leave out pretty much all of season 8, sorry but it doesn't work with my timeline and now things are going to get very interesting and very cute. So enjoy! The more you review the more it makes me want to update so please please do!**

The day had come that Caitlyn had always hated. She didn't mind the dead bodies or occasionally getting pistol whipped or whatever the job required her to go through. But she did hate the events that the BAU team occasionally had to speak at; her husband on the other hand did not. Caitlyn sat in the front row of the Violent Crimes Seminar that was taking place in Chicago. Being an awful public speaker herself she just came to support Spencer and Emily who was speaking as well.

"Now let's give a warm welcome to Dr. Spencer Reid of the BAU." The blonde at the podium introduced, causing the crowd to clap lightly. Except for Caitlyn who clapped loudly and even slipped her thumb and forefinger into her mouth to whistle loudly. This cause Spencer to give her a look from the podium and then fumble with the microphone before beginning his speech. She could never understand how someone with an eidetic memory could get so nervous about public speaking, it wasn't as if he was going to forget anything he was supposed to say. Caitlyn tried her best to answer the questions he asked out to the crowd and respond to all of the cue's the young genius would try and set off from the podium because it seemed that the whole room wasn't the least bit interested in anything he had to say.

Patricia Cornwell the author leading the event was signing books while Emily was answering questions from those who were in the audience. Caitlyn had left towards the end to go grab a coffee and entered back into the conference room only to see Spencer standing alone, clutching the strap of his messenger bag.

"Hey." Caitlyn smiled "you did great!"

"Not really, I think the whole room would have left when I started talking but probably didn't because it would be hard not to notice if they did. No one is even asking me any questions." Spencer frowned. Caitlyn placed her hand under his chin to lift his face up.

"I thought you were fantastic and that's all that matters to me." she smiled, kissing him softly on the lips.

"I guess…" he frowned, placing his hand on the small of her back.

"How about I go downstairs and call a cab, we can go back to the hotel and then I'll be princess laya." Caitlyn purred suggestively.

"Well. Then I don't guess I know, I will meet you downstairs." The young doctor grinned at Caitlyn's acceptance of the sexual role play he had been suggesting for months. Caitlyn was regretting it already as she walked to the elevator, but hey, sometimes you have to do things for the ones you love.

As Spencer walked up to the cab there was a look on his face that wasn't the enthused one that she had seen when she left.

"I tried to be cool and thought I was giving a fellow list-memorizer help into the FBI internship program." he mumbled.

"That's great!"

"Yeah it would have been if he wasn't the leader of a multibillion dollar medical company that's going to change the world. And he's only a teenager."

"Yeah well… you probably have way more lists memorized than him and he doesn't have me, so don't let it bother you. It was a weird seminar." Caitlyn tried to comfort the young doctor.

"I just feel like he's so young and smart and have done so much, what could I have done if I chose a different path?"

xxxxxxx

The seminar had ended as soon as it had begun and there was yet another psychopath on the loose, this time the un sub was recreating the attacks and murders of the zodiac killer. Caitlyn and Spencer were to go and look at the crime scene. Within minutes Spencer made his conclusion.

"It's not the real zodiac killer." he stated.

"How can you be so sure?" Caitlyn asked, somewhat disappointed. She had studied the original zodiac case obsessively when she was younger and wanted to be the one to catch him.

"I just know it… I just can't really explain it." he answered.

"Well, that's good enough for me. But I don't know how well that will hold up with anyone else." Caitlyn said, looking inside the bloody car. After inspecting the agents then left the scene and headed to the police station. There was a man positioned on top of the steps; a crowd had formed around him and he was being killed. It seemed as though he was claiming that his cousin was the actual zodiac killer. Spencer started to go towards the crowd.

"Spencer-" Caitlyn tried call after him but stopped as she watched him jump in front of the camera and proceed to humiliate and discredit the man. Spencer looked into the camera,

"The FBI would appreciate it if only serious tips were sent and people stopped trying to get their 15 minutes of fame, thank you." he finished, turning on his heel and walking away. Caitlyn pulled her jaw from the floor and trotted to catch up to his pace.

"Dr. Reid I don't know what has gotten into you, but I kinda like it."

xxx

Spencer had decoded a message that had led them to a location where the unsub sent a messenger to deliver a note especially for him.

 _You're not as smart as you think you are._

"Okay, I know that I shouldn't take things personally but why is someone sending this to Spencer? Does that mean it's someone whose after him, not someone who is trying to continue what the zodiac is doing." Caitlyn asked the team as they looked over the fresh crime scene.

"Well if he's trying to compete with me he has to be within 5 years of my age, the question is why." Spencer said.

"The message may not have been for you, Reid." Hotch added.

"A letter was hand delivered to me last night." Spencer responded, only to be shot down by the other agents to try and rationalize that it wasn't for the young doctor. Caitlyn kept silent as she watched the expression on his face change with each of their remarks. Being honest with herself, she didn't believe that this was after Spencer either.

"We're ready to deliver the profile." Hotch concluded, walking away from the crime scene and heading to the sedan with JJ and Emily following behind him. Spencer stayed still.

"Babe, if you really think about it, it does seem kind of strange and very unlikely that this was directed to you." Caitlyn said softly, causing Spencer to deepen his frown.

"I know how it sounds, but I'm telling you, I don't know what it is but I know that this is about me."

"Okay, then I believe you."

xxxx

When Caitlyn had woken up in their hotel room she rolled over to find that Spencer was gone. It was extremely rare that he would leave without waking her up. She showered quickly and walked down to the coffee shop across the street to see her husband deep in thought, scribbling and flipping through sheets of paper.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Caitlyn asked as she sat down, the young doctor not looking up from his paper. "You know you can tell me anything, it's me."

With that last sentence he sat back and placed down his pen.

"Do you ever wonder if you live up to expectations?" he asked, looking her in the eyes.

"I beat them, I thought I'd be in the army or something or I don't know, I am more than my dad's expectations."

"I thought I'd have cured schizophrenia by the time I was 25. You know when I was a kid, people told me that I could do anything." Spencer said.

"Wait, you're afraid that you've let people down?" Caitlyn asked.

"I'm afraid I've let myself down." Spencer confessed.

"By not curing schizophrenia?"

"Because… I don't know why I'm in the FBI."

"Oh I get it," Caitlyn smiled, "you're a genius but you have the same job as me and Prentiss, Morgan and JJ."

"Yeah that's exactly it," the young doctor started, but then cracked a smile, "no, I'm not saying that. Sometimes I just get this feeling that maybe I should have done something more with my life."

At that time Prentiss had come down and heard the end of their conversation,

"Sorry to barge in and eavesdrop but you're only 29." she said light heartedly.

"I'm 30." he corrected her.

"What! You mean we missed your birthday?" Prentiss exclaimed. Caitlyn and Reid had a small celebration of their own but he wasn't one to try and make a big deal out of birthdays and didn't want to mention it and made Caitlyn promise not to.

"Well, no matter what you really don't hear much about child prodigies when they grow up, they mostly grow up to be average." Caitlyn sighed.

"Are you trying to use reverse psychology on me?" Spencer retorted jokingly as Emily grabbed the paper he was working on.

"What are you doing?" he asked her as she started to write on the paper.

"Well I hear that you're washed up so I might as well see what you've missed." Emily joked, circling randomly on the paper.

"Stop you might actually mess it up." Spencer said, snatching it back from her. But what it did do was open a new path, one that led Spencer and the rest of the team one step closer to the un sub.

"That's it." he said under his breath before darting out of the coffee shop.

"Never a dull moment between you two is there?" Emily asked Caitlyn as she took a sip of her latte.

xxxxx

It seemed as though the rest of the case was solved purely by Spencer as the rest of the team watched. It was two geniuses who were doing the murders it only made sense that a genius was the one to solve it. Caitlyn fastened her bulletproof vest as they went to go and get the un subs, as they drove in the car Caitlyn placed her hand on Spencer's knee. The un sub was the man that approached him at the convention, Spencer was right all along. The young doctor slipped his hand in hers in response. When they arrived at the warehouse Caitlyn kicked down the door to see a woman tied up and the two un-subs.

"The murders are perfect, that's why the police won't catch us."

"If they were perfect, I wouldn't be here right now." Reid said, stepping out from the shadows, gun pointed. Caitlyn crept behind where she couldn't be seen in order to get the shot she needed incase she had to take him down. The one un-sub, the friend of the main killer, Caleb, easily threw him under the bus.

"You really worked hard to impress him, didn't you Caleb?" Spencer asked, "the murders, the chess game, all to entice him."

With each statement the other man agreed, only hurting the un sub more as he dug a deeper and deeper grave for his friend.

"I don't know if this guy is the best friend in the world if he's selling you out like that, after you killed once together you probably thought that you had an unbreakable bond…" Spencer started, causing the un sub to get distracted and admit that the two men committed the first murder, "but after that something changed, you two grew apart."

Caitlyn tried to keep as quiet as possible as she tried to make her way behind the un sub without being noticed and hoping Spencer could distract them long enough so that she could get into position. The un subs began to fight as Spencer played the two off one another- and then Spencer hit them with the ultimate mind game. Telling the one un sub that the other was planning to move away and hadn't even told him. Caitlyn was amazed at how strong and dominant Spencer was acting, he was cool and collected as he played the two like the perfect chess game between one another. The un sub then revealed where the first victims bones were buried, in the other man's backyard. The un sub and Reid lowered their guns, Morgan came out of his position and cuffed him and took him into custody. Emily and Hotch assisted in getting the other two out of the area. Caitlyn put her gun in her holster and hugged Spencer to her side.

"See, you are a genius. You were right all along. None of us figured out what you did or felt the instincts that you felt." Caitlyn said to him, the young doctor forced a small smile.

"I guess you're right." he said.

"Why the long face still?" Caitlyn asked, concerned.

"Because you're right and I like to be the one whose right." He fake frowned. Caitlyn rolled her eyes and gave him a shove.

"For a genius you can be so immature sometimes." she laughed.

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Are you two finished acting like you're adolescents so we can leave?" Hitch called from the outside, the two unaware that they were able to be heard. They both laughed and Spencer grabbed Caitlyn's face between both of his hands and kissed her hard and quickly before leading her out of the warehouse, holding her hand.

xxxxxxx

Caitlyn and Spencer walked into the BAU, both of them clutching a cup of coffee as they walked through the BAU.

"Hey, Reid. Or ReidS, but I'm addressing you, Spencer. Hotch wants to talk to you." Emily said, Spencer made a face of disapproval, "what?"

"He probably wants to talk to me about how I've been kind of weird lately." He answered, Caitlyn just looked up at the ceiling trying to act as nonchalant as possible. She knew what Emily had set up and didn't want to give it away. Spencer was an excellent profiler, especially when it came to Caitlyn, sort of.

"You are making a difference though, one person at a time." Emily said to the genius.

"I've been thinking a lot about why I stayed after Gideon left, why I take any of those other offers. And I realized I don't know theres just something…" he turned his head to look at Caitlyn as he continued, "incredibly right about being here. With all you guys." he finished, turning back to look at Emily.

"Well I'm glad to hear that, otherwise this would have been really awkward." Emily stated, placing her hand on the young doctor's back and leading him to a room filled with his fellow team members and a birthday cake.

"Surprise!" They all cheered in unison, each one coming up and giving him affection in their own ways. Kisses on each cheek from Rossi, a rare smile and handshake from Hotch.

Spencer's face lit up and he smiled widely as each one of the members of his team gave him a hug and wished him a happy birthday.

"Did you know?" Spencer grinned at Caitlyn.

"Yes and you have no idea how hard it is to keep anything from you." Caitlyn giggled nervously. There was something else she was keeping from him and she didn't know how long she could keep it from him. Secrets didn't sit well with her, and with all that was going on there never seemed like good enough of a time to say what she needed to say. A cake was held infront of him as Spencer closed his eyes and blew out the candles. Caitlyn tried to say, yay or happy birthday or woo hoo but instead the secret shot it's way out of her mouth.

"I'm pregnant!" she blurted, causing everything in the room to stop and all eyes to turn to her, "ummm… hehe… surprise? Again?"


	30. Last Case

**A/N: More updates! Yay! I am also looking for someone to do a criminal minds RP with, so if anyone is out there, let me know! I am going to be wrapping up this current season and going straight to about season 9 or 10. So no agent blake unfortunately and I don't think Caitlyn could even deal with Spencer getting shot in the neck right now, so let's see how this unfolds. Some things may seem kind of rushed and skipped over but GOSH I love getting to the good stuff and like it could be the BEST stuff this chapter or the next I don't want to give it away :) . We're nearing the end of this story… so enjoy it while you can my friends! Review review I appreciate every single one and it keeps me going!**

Caitlyn stood frozen and scanned the faces of each one of her team members after she had dropped the bomb. She didn't understand why she said it but she just had to. The first to speak was of course, Garcia.

"Wait, what, you mean you have a little genius growing inside of you right now?" The technical analyst asked, breaking the silence. Caitlyn placed a hand on her stomach and grinned widely, nodding in approval.

"Oh…oh my gosh!" Garcia cheered, hugging her tightly. The rest of the team came up one by one to congratulate her and she smiled, looking at Spencer who had not moved or changed expressions since she accidentally blurted out the news. The other who seemed least surprised was Derek Morgan. And Caitlyn figured that was the case seeing as though his girlfriend, Savannah was the one who confirmed her pregnancy.

"Get ready for a lot of morning sickness and a lot of sleep, I'm pretty sure Spencer is going to make sure that you do everything right and have the healthiest baby ever." JJ smiled.

"So you got that second chance," Emily smiled, hugging her best friend, "I'm sorry for taking away your first one… but congratulations."

"I'm going to be a grandpa of more beautiful babies!" Rossi exclaimed, even though he had found out he had a daughter… and a grandson. He always thought of Caitlyn as a daughter, and when he found out about his biological daughter Caitlyn wasn't too happy at first but then agreed to share.

Caitlyn looked over and finally saw that Spencer was smiling, it was the biggest smile she had ever seen him have. His face was flushed and he it seemed as though the only thing that was keeping him upright was his grip on the table behind him, but he was still smiling. Morgan gave him a pat on the back and Hotch shook his hand. Caitlyn looked down at the ground as she approached him.

"I'm sorry." she said.

"Sorry!" he exclaimed happily, "for what?"

"I knew and I didn't tell you, with that last case I really didn't know when the right time was to tell you." Caitlyn apologized.

"Caitlyn. We're going to have a baby, we're going to start a family. He's going to be perfect." he smiled, grabbing her face in his hands and kissing her, the rest of the team applauding.

"Why do you keep saying it's going to be a he!"

xxxxxxxxxxx

That night the Reids entered their homes happy and excited. The whole way home Spencer was telling her information that he learned what to do and what not to do from the research that he did when JJ was pregnant with her baby.  
"So you know what this means." he said gravely.

"No more coffee, I know." Caitlyn responded.

"And no more sushi."

"WHAT!" Caitlyn exclaimed.

"Too much mercury. And you already workout so if you don't do anything too strenuous that will be good for our baby too. Wow. Our baby, we're going to have a baby." Spencer said, sitting down on the couch and placing his elbows on his knees.

"I can't say that I'm not afraid. And are you sure you're still going to love me even when I get crazy and hormonal and fat?" she pouted playfully. The young doctor pulled her over and placed the side of his face on her stomach.

"I'd love you no matter what, that's our future in there." he whispered.

"But then when we have the baby, I don't want to stop working and neither do you an-" Caitlyn began to panic.

"Let's just take this one step a time. But you're not going on anymore raids. Right?" Spencer looked up at her desperately.

"No, of course not. We're not losing this one. I'm not going to stop working and I'm not staying out of the field but I promise to be smart about this, it's not only my life I have to worry about now." Caitlyn answered.

"Okay, well then that makes this a lot easier. I spoke to Hotch just incase you were against that he would make it so that you couldn't."

"Spencer!"

xxxxxxx

"I'm feeling fine. I mean, the baby bump is getting a little more than visible… who am I kidding I feel like you could see my stomach from space and my hormones are off the charts, but it's going good. I'm almost there, like 2 months to go. It feels weird just being pregnant. And it still freaks me out when the baby kicks. Hotch said this is probably my last case I can be involved in and then I'll be camping out with Garcia at the BAU. And I've been having to take weekly pictures to send to Spencer's mom because she wants to see me develop in every stage of my pregnancy." Caitlyn said on the phone to Emily, who had taken up a job offer to run the London office for Interpol. A new agent had arrived, Kate Callahan which really made distinguishing some of the agents difficult. Reid could be referring to two people and now Kate and Caitlyn, didn't make it very easy.

"Why don't you just rest?" Emily said on the other side of the phone.

"Are you kidding, do you know who you're talking to I'm a work a holic, I would literally go insane."

"You already are insane." Emily retorted.

"Are you ready to go?" Spencer asked, giving Caitlyn her decaf latte.

"I gotta go, call when you can, love you." Caitlyn said hanging up the phone and getting help to stand up from Spencer.

"Yes. I really hate this whole no caffeine thing and I feel like a whale." she complained as she did every single morning.

"Well I think you look perfect. This whole you being pregnant thing hasn't been so bad, I mean the increased sex drive that normally accompanies pregnancies wasn't a bad thing and you have the um… pregnant glow." Spencer said, kissing her softly.

"I'm sorry I threw an encyclopedia at you." she apologized, last night she had gotten mad for some reason that she couldn't even remember before and totally took it out on Spencer. God bless the patience that he had with her and JJ helping her through her pregnancy. Hotch had even taken her gun away- at least instructed Spencer to lock it away because he didn't want anyone shot out of a hormonal meltdown.

"You promise this is the last case that you're going to come on?" Spencer asked her.

"Yes and then I'll be stuck here alone, probably calling you a thousand times missing you or at the BAU driving Garcia crazy." Caitlyn sighed.

xxxxxxxxxxx

When both of the agents arrived at the office she immediately saw Kate. Most of the agents knew her from beforehand so it wasn't as though it was a new person joining the team.

"Hi Reid," she greeted.

"Hi." Caitlyn and Spencer both said in unison.

"That is still confusing to me." Kate smirked.

"Don't worry, just keep calling me Caitlyn. We've figured it out here." Caitlyn smiled, making her way into the conference room. Caitlyn had gotten close to Agent Callahan, talking to her about what it was like raising a pre-teen and getting anxiety every time she heard a phone call between the two. This was the last time that Caitlyn would be working the case, even though she was extremely careful and stayed back from any potentially dangerous situations, she had to stop flying and she had made a promise to Spencer and Hotch.

xxxxxx

Wardens were found dead in a privately run prison. Caitlyn could already hear the objection coming from Spencer's brain as they were getting briefed for the case. Caitlyn winced as the baby started to kick on the plane.

"Is the baby kicking?" Spencer asked, placing his hand on her stomach. Derek Morgan came behind them,

"Do you mind if I?" he asked, and Caitlyn smiled placing his hand on her stomach.

When they finally landed Spencer stopped Caitlyn infront of the prison,

"Caitlyn I don't want you going in here." he said.

"I agree! You should be away on a mountain in a five star spa," Rossi called from a few feet away, "I can make that happen Caitlyn!" Caitlyn rolled her eyes,

"Spencer, this is literally the safest place that I can come in and help, they're all locked behind bars, even we don't have weapons. It'll be okay." Caitlyn said, squeezing his hand and looking over at Hotch who gave a nod of approval. They entered the facility and met with the main warden, the cell service was sketchy so they weren't able to get calls from Garcia with the usual ease. The first thing that was to be done was to look at the bodies and have some of the Agents talk with some of the in mates. The coroner wasn't very interested and didn't seem to do his job very well. And of course some of those who were being interviewed didn't seem to want to talk. Spencer was assigned to look through the prisoner's files and being the safest job as possible at the time Caitlyn was to assist. More like supervise with how fast he read. Caitlyn sighed and played mozart through headphones that she laid on her stomach.

"One of these inmates are missing, he just disappeared 3 months before the main guard was killed."

This brought them to their main subject of focus, Devon White. After conducting some interviews they found that his name continuously kept popping up. All the agents gathered together in a conference room.

"How is Devon White tied into all of this?" Caitlyn asked, eating some of the Spencer approved snacks in her mouth.

"Well I wasn't sure until I looked back and saw the two guards that were murdered were constantly writing him up for minor infractions. Not making his bed correctly, hiding candy underneath it." Spencer said.

"Are you okay?" Hotch asked as Caitlyn started to tear up.

"Yeah, yeah… that's just so mean and it's just… it's just hormones. I'm fine." Caitlyn shook it off.

"Like I said before this is your LAST CASE in the field." The unit chief reminded her and JJ squeezed her shoulder with assurance. They had found out that the two killed guards were exchanging money for bets.

"You know what I was thinking, what if they're doing like… a fight club with inmates. And that's what the money is for." Caitlyn suggested.

"That definitely could be it." Morgan agreed.

"And the first rule of fight club is, you don't talk about fight club." Caitlyn quoted the film, trying to be a little light hearted.

"We're just going to keep conducting interviews until we get to the bottom of this. Caitlyn, you go with Morgan and the rest of us will pair up and keep going at it. You're too emotional when you're with Reid." Hotch said with a sigh. All of the agents started to file out as Reid called after Caitlyn,

"I don't like this." he said, looking deeply into her eyes.

"Don't worry Daddy, she's going to be okay." Morgan assured him as Caitlyn gave him a kiss and went into the interrogation room. Devon had gone to the infirmary many times and they all believed that one of the men were in on it, especially after another criminal was killed. All of the inmates came in non violent and then turned violent.

xxxxx

Caitlyn and Morgan sat in one of the cells, one of the officers had come forward. He knew what had happened to Devon and the other innmate.

"You," he said looking at Caitlyn, "you have to make sure that my family is protected. I can't have anything happen to my little girl. You would protect yours please protect mine." he pleaded.

"We will, now just tell us what happened."

The officer began to explain how the guards put Devon and the other inmate who was now dead up against one another to fight, and without any other choice Devon was killed. The two were lovers and Devon was killed. All of a sudden from behind her she heard the clanging of keys and turned to see some of the inmates opening the door.

"Oh… oh my god." Caitlyn started, Morgan shoving her behind him. Morgan began to fight off the inmates and Caitlyn did the best that she could to defend them off with her strength and what was left in the room. She lifted chairs to hit the inmates with, thinking _Please god, not again, please._ She was eventually thrown to the floor and curled into a ball to protect her stomach after a blow or two to the face. The officer they were interviewing was stabbed as Caitlyn was grabbed by her hair.

"Baby on board," The inmate taunted kicking her in the back, he ripped her up by her hair and placed a knife to her neck as she and Morgan were moved and tied up to chairs.

"Just let her go, man! She's pregnant!" Morgan pleaded. The inmate smelled Caitlyn's hair and placed his hand down her shirt.

"I can feel that by her breasts, they're plump." he sneered, and Caitlyn spat in his face causing him to punch her in response.

"Fuck you." she growled.

"I'm going to have fun with with one first." he said, before one of the inmates Morgan must have interviewed earlier came and saved them.

"We have enough evidence to bring this place down, we can help you!" Caitlyn pleaded.

xxxx

 _Spencer's Point of View_

"What do you know about Devon White?" he asked, Agent Hotchner at his side. He felt alright knowing that Caitlyn was in the similar kind of interview environment. Locked in with the one being interviewed locked away as well. That was all until a guard ran in and Spencer could just tell by profiling him something was wrong. He prayed it wasn't Caitlyn. "There's something wrong, the prisoner's doors got opened, they have two of your agents." he informed them. Spencer immediately looked at Hotch, hoping it wasn't Caitlyn and feeling horrible that he wished it was other members of his team.

"There has been a complete system override, we can't get anyone in or out." The officer informed them as they walked quickly through the hallways.

"Can't you shut the system down?" Spencer asked.

"The only way to do that is from inside the booth." the officer stated as they arrived and on the screen Spencer saw Derek Morgan and Caitlyn Reid tied down and beaten pretty badly. Spencer began to speak gibberish, he was seeing stars and colors.

"Reid, are you okay?" Hotch asked as Rossie tried to get the head officer to open the door.

"She's in there, I told her not to go that-" the young genius found the nearest trash can and threw up, his system couldn't take it.

"You have to get her out of there, I can't lose her and this baby Hotch. I don't think I could recover, please." Spencer begged. He began to cry as he heard a gunshot go off from inside the control room. Desperate the genius got up and began to use everything that he could to try and break into the control room, even though he knew that there was nothing that he could do. Rossi wrapped his arms around Reid and pulled him back.

"You gotta calm down, we'll get them out." Rossi tried to comfort him.

"My life is in that cell, I'll die Rossi, I can't." he whimpered, slumping to the floor.

xxxxxxx

 _Caitlyn's POV_

The inmates began to fight, the one that Morgan had talked to earlier had bought them some time. She felt relief when she heard the first shot. The sniper shot though the window. Caitlyn fell to the floor on her knees as the SWAT team arrived.

"You know we'll always come for you." The swat chief said as she saw Spencer running towards her at full speed.

"Are you okay, what did they do to you- oh my god your face you're bleeding." He started, untying her and inspecting her wounds.

"I'm okay Spencer and the baby will be fine. My pride and my face got the worst of it." she began, tearing up. Spencer pulled her in tightly to him as she sobbed into his shoulder and he cried as well. The rest of the bodies cleared out as the two held onto one another.

"No more. I'm staying with Garcia in her safe cave from here on out." Caitlyn cried into his shoulder.

"I was so afraid…."

xxxxxxx

Caitlyn stood outside of the police station looking out at the sun, she let out a sigh of relief as she felt the baby kick. Spencer was in charge of driving home using the excuse that he was now going to be in full control of his wife and her safety. When they had arrived back to the station, Spencer was silent and grabbed both of their things. Garcia ran up to the bruised Agent.

"I am so happy you are okay, and the little baby! Just so you know, I made you a spot in my tech lair with me since you're not going to be in the field. I even printed out pictures that I got of Reid- some legal some not, whatever, so you can see him all the time." Garcia chattered, "and lots of snacks!"

Caitlyn began to tear up as Spencer made his way back over with their bags.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"No Garcia, it's great. I'm just going to miss being with him every second." Caitlyn teared up, she hated how emotional this whole pregnant thing made her.

"Let's go home." Spencer said, Caitlyn waved to Garcia and followed.

xxxx

When they finally got home, Caitlyn complained about the baby's kicking and drank the mixture that Spencer had her drink every night and took her vitamins.

"Sit down." he said, sitting her on the bed and cleaning the wounds on her face, kissing each one of the tops and corners of her lips lightly. "If I didn't love you so much, I'd be so mad. I thought I was going to die."

"You thought you were going to die? Were you in that cell and I wasn't aware of it?" Caitlyn tried to joke.

"Caitlyn, if anything happened to you, I would die. I don't think you understand that. You are my world and you have another part of my life inside you." he stared into her.

"I'm sorry," she said as the young doctor took off her shoes and began to massage her feet, the agent giggled and pulled back.

"Very nice gesture, but you know I'm so ticklish. It's my back that's killing me." Caitlyn confessed.

"Well alight then." Spencer said, shutting off the lights, tucking Caitlyn into bed and snuggling behind her, gently kneading the small of her back.

"That feels good, thank you. I love you." she told him.

"I love you too." he responded, falling asleep with her pulled against him, hands on her stomach, feeling the kick of the life inside her.


	31. Never Grow Up

**A/N: Answering one of the questions I based Caitlyn off myself so I guess she would look like me! A lot of people say I look like Emma Roberts but I will post a picture of myself on my profile to show a representation. I'm sorry if some of you don't like how much I've skipped but… this is my story and you know I'm gonna write what makes me happy. And hopefully makes you happy too. Writing this makes my heart hurt, I feel bad for old preggo Caitlyn with Spencer having to leave her… well… review review! I really appreciate all the great reviews that I have gotten so far and I am unsure of where to go from here and may only write a chapter or so more if I write one at all, but who knows… the last few reviews are the ones that got me to write this one! This has been such a joy to write and I love how all the relationships came together the way I wanted, with Caitlyn and Rossi and Caitlyn and Prentiss, just ah. Enjoy!**

 ** _"_** _Your little hand's wrapped around my finger_

 _And it's so quiet in the world tonight_

 _Your little eyelids flutter cause you're dreaming_

 _So I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light_

 _To you everything's funny, you got nothing to regret_

 _I'd give all I have, honey_

 _If you could stay like that_ _"_

"Everything looks good!" Savannah smiled, looking at the ultra sound.

"Well everything doesn't feel good." Caitlyn complained, "I feel like I'm literally losing my mind. I'm hungry _all the time._ And Spencer is always gone and-"

"Listen," Savannah said, placing her hand on her knees, "I definitely know what it feels like to have your man gone all the time, ours are on the same team, remember?" she smiled. Caitlyn had grown to like Morgan's girlfriend, it was nice to have someone to hangout with when she wasn't assisting on some of the cases with Garcia. It actually turned out that she was of some help to the technical analyst, filling in the gaps with her profiling skills that Penelope couldn't understand herself. Which were far and few between.

"Are you ready to go?" Spencer asked, opening the door to the hospital room. Caitlyn had forbid him from coming in because she wanted to be surprised with the sex of their baby an knew at this point in time he would be able to tell from the ultra sound and she could not.

"Yeah, I'm ready. All 5000 pounds on me." Caitlyn grumbled, sliding off of the table.

"I have some time for a lunch break, I think I'll come and visit Derek at the BAU." Savannah added, taking off her medical jacket and grabbing her purse.

xxxxxxxxx

"Surprise!"

Caitlyn opened the door to see the BAU bullpen decorated with presents and various baby themed decorations.

"What is all of this?" Caitlyn asked.

"We're throwing you a baby shower!" JJ gleamed, handing her a piece of cake.

"You really do know how to make a pregnant lady happy."

The whole time Spencer was at her side, smiling and thanking each and every one of them as they opened the gifts. A photo from the two on their wedding day framed from Rossi, a miniature baseball mitt from Morgan, a small onesie that said "My dad's IQ is higher than yours" from Kate, a mom's care package made of a variety of things from JJ, a set of Baby Einstein DVD's and books from Garcia. An American flag baby blanket from Hotch along with a gift card to Baby's R US and various gifts from people in the Bureau. Emily had sent a gift from London and Caitlyn opened it to find a maternity shirt that read "I used to kick down doors, even pregnant I will kick your ass", A lot of the people from Caitlyn's SWAT unit were there.

"You leave to become a big hot shot profiler and then next thing you know you're married and now you're going to have a baby." Her old unit chief joked, hugging her tightly.

"Yeah I've gone from grappling down buildings and leading takedowns to morning sickness and prenatal vitamins." Caitlyn said, Spencer coming beside her.

"Spencer, this is my old unit chief Calvin." she introduced.

"Oh I know Dr. Reid- wait. This is the Reid you married I thought that maybe- nevermind, Nice to meet you." he said, shaking Spencer's hand who had gotten used to that kind of reaction. The SWAT team put together enough money and bought the couple a brand new crib. Caitlyn felt a sharp kick in her stomach.

"Are you okay?" Spencer asked, every single time Caitlyn made any kind of face Spencer was at her side, even if her facial expression changed from smelling something wrong he was there. Overbearing and overprotective was an understatement.

"No, I'm fine. Thank you guys so much." Caitlyn smiled. Hotch's phone rang and he left the room, returning with a grave look on his face.

"I hate to cut the fun short, but there's work to be done." he stated and Caitlyn's heart sank. She followed to the conference room, even though she wasn't able to travel on the case she still was able to take part and help try and find the un-sub at Garcia's side. The case was in Wisconsin, which made Caitlyn tear up. Ever since the beginning of their relationship her and the young doctor were always at each others side, at work, on duty and off. She hated being away from him, especially being pregnant. 3 women were found tied to their beds with scarves and sexually assaulted before being strangled.

"The patterns on the neck look like they're from a quarter inch rope." Spencer said, squinting to look closer at the pictures.

"Looks more like something nylon would do… and he obviously wasn't trying to steal anything he ignored cash and expensive jewelry." Caitlyn said looking through the file.

"Well he has hit his stride, so it's time to get moving. Wheels up in 30." Hotch finished, leaving the room and the other agents filing behind him. Caitlyn followed behind Spencer as he went to get his go bag and drove with him to the airport. The sound of the jet making it almost impossible to hear one another.

"I hate this." Caitlyn sighed, Spencer with his go bag hanging on his shoulder.

"Trust me, I miss you too and I don't like leaving you either." he said holding her into him.

"But I'm not going to get killed or something in Garcia's tech lair." Caitlyn complained.

"I promise, I'll be back to you as soon as I can, and I'll be safe. And I'll call, and text and you know how awful I am with technology but I'll do it for you and I'll do it often." he said, placing kisses on her lips each time he paused and started a new sentence.

"I love you." Caitlyn teared up, those damn hormones.

"I love you," Spencer said, before kneeling down and kissing her stomach, "and I love you." This caused Caitlyn to cry and continue to cry until the jet made it's way into the sky.

xxxxxx

Caitlyn sat in Garcia's tech lair, the analyst had gotten used to Caitlyn crying for at least an hour after Spencer had left and had her headphones in and was looking through the victims past until Caitlyn tapped her on the shoulder.

"Okay, I'm done now." Caitlyn said, scooting next to Garcia.

"Good. I don't like sad things and seeing you pregnant and having separation anxiety from boy wonder makes me extra sad. I've shipped you two from the beginning."

"You did what?"

"Never mind. Help me with my digging with your profiler brain."

"Alright, let's get digging."

xxxxxx

 _Reid's Point of View_

'Here, safe, headed to the coroners.' The young doctor texted as he and Rossi got out of the car. The young doctor had always had anxiety, but it was nothing like the anxiety of being thousands of miles away from your wife, especially when she was pregnant.

"You doing okay? You gotta focus." Rossi said as they walked into the coroner's office.

"Well seeing your pregnant wife crying on a runway isn't the best thing to get you focused. But I'm fine." Reid responded as they walked in to see the bodies.

The bodies had significant damage to them.

"How long was it between the bruising and the kill?" Reid inquired.

"About six hours." The coroner answered.

"Sex for six hours without even a sting, maybe he's interacting with them before hand." Rossi said.

"Maybe its an endurance test, none the less he'd have to be in pretty good physical shape… trust me." Reid responded.

"Images in my mind that I don't want and can never lose, thank you Reid." Rossi grimaced as Spencer's phone rang in his pocket.

Rossi looked over at him,

"You can take it I'll meet you outside."

"Hello?" Spencer answered.

"Hi." Caitlyn breathed into the phone, "what's going on, what have you found out. Please tell me something, even if you didn't find anything I just want to hear your voice." The young doctor smiled and filled Caitlyn in until Rossi called Spencer's name from the backround.

"How are you feeling," Spencer asked, asking her a list of about 20 questions in the span of about thirty seconds.

"You know that I can't answer all those questions as fast as you ask them." Caitlyn smiled.

"I know I'm sorry, I just get-"

"Worried, I know. But I'm just here kicking it with Garcia, and little Reid is also here kicking… a lot." Caitlyn groaned into the phone, the young doctor frowned.

"I'll be back soon. We're getting close to catching this guy." Reid hung up the phone and got into the car with Rossi.

"Are you nervous?" Rossi asked, Spencer looked over at him.

"No, I know we're going to catch him."

"Not about that you dofus, about being a dad," Rossi started, "you know I love your wife like a daughter. And I remember one night when she was drunk at my house listening to Billy Joel records I asked her what she would do if you asked her to marry you. And you know what she said, I don't know if he would want that, but if he ever did I would say yes in a heartbeat. And at that moment I knew that you two would be one of those couples. She doesn't see herself as someone above you, and I know with the way that she looks and the way that guys look at her and JJ when we go into the stations that you see yourself as being lucky to have her and that she's too good for you- which I mean, yeah I was shocked and still may never believe it and kind of thing the same thing. But at that moment I realized that she thinks of herself as lucky to have you and that the possibility of you asking her to marry you would be like some sort of blessing because she values you above herself. So if you were going to say that you are nervous don't be, because you two are one of those loves that don't come around often."

"Thank you, Rossi." Spencer smiled down at his hands.

"And I know you'd never hurt her but I have to put it in there that if you do, I'll shove you into a locker or kill ya." Rossi joked.

"Noted." Reid answered.

 _Caitlyn's POV_

"Alright, well you catch that kinky un sub and get back here fast please." Caitlyn whined.

"PLEASE." Garcia called from the background. Caitlyn hung up the phone and swiveled her chair around to face the technical analyst.

"Am I really that annoying?" Caitlyn asked, a shocked look on her face.

"Well, not mostly. Only when I'm trying to focus, and you're a lot of help you really are. And I love seeing you all pregnant and hearing boy wonder call constantly and it's all very cute. But I like being the outside observer and not doing Reid's job as the husband of the hormonal pregnant lady." Garcia babbled. Caitlyn sighed and rolled her eyes, opening a box of Spencer approved macaroons and placing one in her mouth as she helped Garcia narrow down some of the names of the cases.

It had been hours when the name _Bare Reflections_ came up, Caitlyn couldn't help but burst into a fit of laughter when she heard it.

"Why is that so funny?" Garcia asked after she had hung up with the unit chief.

"Because it's embarrassing!" Caitlyn could barely speak through her laughter.

"Why? Some people like erotic novels." Garcia responded.

"No, no, it's embarrassing because I've read it." Caitlyn finished, her laughter slowing and wiping a tear from her eye.

"You read that?" Garcia asked as her fingers typed at the speed of sound and she searched through cyber space.

"Well, he's gone a lot and I have a lot of hormones alright! And you know what Penelope don't judge me because I know that you're going to read it and you will secretly like it. It's very…" Caitlyn defended trailing off, "never mind, now let's cross check and do whatever it is that you do."

 _Reid's POV_

Spencer sat in his hotel room. He had just talked to Caitlyn on the phone and from her usual sleeping patterns the last few months he knew that she would be asleep, but he couldn't help himself. He picked up his phone and walked outside where he used one of the face time features that Caitlyn and Garcia had to teach the techno-phobe. It rang an odd sound for a few minutes before Caitlyn's face showed up on the screen. When she wasn't at the BAU she was staying with Savannah. This made Reid feel comfortable having her be with a doctor who knew _almost_ as much as him.

"Why can't I see your face? Why do I only see the ceiling?" Spencer asked wondering if he did it wrong.

"Why do you always have to face-time me when I look absolutely awful? And I'm half asleep." Caitlyn responded and Spencer rolled his eyes.

"You know I always think you're beautiful." With those words Caitlyn's face finally filled the screen, he saw her let out a loud sigh and a small frown appear on her face.

"I thought hearing your voice on the phone hurt, but seeing your face hurts too. But it also makes me happy." she said, no make up and hair on top of her head.

"I was right, as usual, you do look beautiful." The young doctor told her.

"You're at a hotel with case files. I want to be in that hotel with the case files. With my gun, I really miss my gun. And I really miss my coffee. You know we really have been missing a really big base of people with our profiles. We really need to factor in pregnant women who can't have their caffeine. I would kill someone for a cup of coffee." Caitlyn babbled.

"And that is EXACTLY the reason why your gun is in the safe." Spencer retorted.

"Whatever, I miss you."

"Have you been taking your vitamins?"

"Yes."

"Have you been doing the breathing exercises?"

"Yes."

"Have you been exercising."

"Definitely not." Caitlyn admitted during the usual spitfire round of questions that were asked.

"You know that 8 out of 10-"

"Spencer. My back hurts. I'm tired all the time, I'm hungry ALWAYS. I do not want to exercise." Caitlyn said seriously, Spencer smiled.

"I'll be home soon, okay? I love you."

"I love you too."

 _Caitlyn's Point of View_

"I'm heading to the hospital, want me to drop you at the BAU?" Savannah asked, grabbing her keys. Caitlyn was standing in the kitchen drinking what she called a 'pussy ass latte', meaning a decaf latte and munching on a bagel.

"Yeah, I just need to throw on a jacket and then I'm ready to go." Caitlyn said, walking into the room where she had been staying and grabbing her jacket. She really appreciated the fact that Savannah was letting her stay with her. There was something about being at their house without Spencer being there, and it instantly made her depressed and cry. Caitlyn walked into the room and then grabbed her jacket and then walked through the kitchen. She had almost thought she accidentally knocked over a vase when she heard a loud splash on the floor. She looked down and saw a puddle of water where she stood.

"Um… Savannah. I think I may need you to take me to the hospital." Caitlyn said as Savannah came into the kitchen.

"Oh my god, your water broke!"

"My water broke… oh my god. I'm having a baby." Caitlyn said, starting to panic. It was as if all of this was hitting her now, this was happening and there was no turning back. The worst part about it was that Spencer wasn't there.

"Let's go!" Savannah rushed her to the car.

"CALL SPENCER."

 _Spencer's POV_

The young doctor stood in the police station, they had narrowed down the un sub to be a father of two, who had had children in the last eight years.

"And how many had children in these last eight years?" Hotch asked the analyst.

"There are hold on… I'm sorry I'm getting a call from… I'm sorry sir just hold on please." Garcia said before putting them on hold. The unit chief held his hands up in confusion.

"Oh, oh goodness. Is Reid in the room?" Garcia asked.

"Yes Garcia but I'm not understanding how this is pertaining to the case we need this information." Hotch said seriously.

"Well he needs this information. Caitlyn's gone into labor, also I found the address I'm sending it to you now." Garcia said, clicking the phone call to a close. Spencer's phone had been on silent in his pocket, he wasn't even checking it, he couldn't even move. This was happening.

"H-h-hotch, can I-" The young doctor started.

"Get out of here, we'll go get him." Hotch said with one of his rare smiles. The young doctor grabbed his bag and ran faster than he ever thought possible,

 _Caitlyn's POV_

She was about 10 hours into labor, the pains were intense and coming and going. Garcia had come from the BAU and was by her side.

"I hate him, I hate him." Caitlyn said with each contraction.

"What? Who do you hate?" Garcia asked.

"SPENCER! I hate him! Where the HELL IS HE, why did he get me pregnant! I hate him!" Caitlyn screamed. She had been tortured, beaten, bruised but nothing compared to labor. It felt like she was being stabbed from the inside and no one would let her die.

"How many centimeters dilated is she?" Caitlyn heard a familiar voice approaching, and she burst into tears when she saw Spencer come through the door, medical charts in hand.

"Thank god, I think she broke every bone in my hand." Garcia said, "I'll leave you two be."

Spencer ran up to her and kissed her on the lips, grinning widely,

"Hi," he said.

"What are you smiling about! HI!? Where have you been! I've been dying here!" Caitlyn growled at him, "I really really hate you right now."

"I love you too." he answered, the Doctor coming in and checking Caitlyn's progress.

"Alright," he confirmed, "she's good to go, we're going to move you into the OR."

Caitlyn's heart sunk in her chest, she had flashbacks to the first time that she had met the young doctor and when she confessed to the woman on the roof that she though he hated her. The time that he was taken by Tobias, when she he was addicted to the dilaudid. The vows on their wedding day. They had been through hell and back and to hell and back again.

"Are you ready?" The doctor asked, and Caitlyn looked up at Spencer and smiled.

"Absolutely."

"I'm going to love you and take such good care of you. You are going to be so loved, and so protected. You're going to get into a really good school because you're going to be smart like your daddy, and you're going to be so beautiful because you're going to look just like your mommy. " Caitlyn heard Spencer saying quietly in the chair beside her as she started to wake up slowly. Caitlyn was right, it was a girl. A beautiful baby girl. She was right. Caitlyn yawned and opened to see Spencer sitting in the chair holding their baby. They named her Emilia Dianne Reid. After Emily and Spencer's mom.

"Mommy's awake." Spencer said, standing up and bringing Emilia over to her. Caitlyn smiled up at him.

"Hey Spencer," Caitlyn said tiredly, "we have a baby."

A nurse popped her head into the door,

"You have um, a lot of visitors." she said.

"We're not visitors, we're family!" she heard Garcia say as the rest of the BAU made their way into the room.

"Wow, you look better than I did after I had Henry and you were in labor way longer than me." JJ comforted her.

"Who are the god parents!" Garcia asked immediately.

"Well, we decided on J.J and Morgan." Spencer said, looking over at Derek.

"Me?" Derek asked, and the couple nodded.

"Dang it." Garcia said, but then was instantly cheered up when she saw their baby, "oh my gosh, she's so perfect."

"Can I hold her?" Derek asked, taking the baby from Spencer. "Hi, I'm your god daddy Derek, I'm going to spoil you and you're going to be tough. And I'm not going to let any boys mess with you or break your heart, they'll have to go through Derek Morgan." he cooed.

"Congratulations," Hotch said, patting Spencer on the back. Rossi looked over Derek's shoulder at the baby,

"You look just like your mommy, lucky girl." Rossi joked, "anything that you want, just tell Papa Rossi and you got it."

Caitlyn was gleaming, the smile on her and Spencer's faces could have lit up a whole town. Caitlyn had never been a baby person. She had only held one or two in her life and had sworn since she was a child when she refused to play with baby dolls and opted for animals instead that she would never have one. She looked over at the Genius who changed her mind and changed her life. Then it started to hit her, she literally knew nothing about babies. Spencer only knew the practical applications of things that he had read and Caitlyn was very short tempered and how were they going to- her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Sorry I'm late." Prentiss said, her go bag still on her arm as she had come straight from the airport to the hospital, and a cup of coffee in her hand.

"Emily!" Caitlyn smiled, "what are you doing here? Please tell me that coffee is for me and if it's yours I don't care give it to me still."

"My best friend had a baby you don't think I wasn't going to come and see her. I tried to get here sooner but you can only pull so many strings and fly at a certain speed." she said coming over and hugging Caitlyn and handing her the cup of coffee. Caitlyn took a sip and let out a moan.

"Oh, this is like better than sex." She moaned.

"Seems like you need to step your game up kid." Morgan nudged Reid who rolled his eyes.

"I'm glad you're here. It's a girl." Caitlyn gleamed, nervous to deal with all the wonderful things that girls go through but excited to guide her daughter through it.

"Can I hold her?" She asked Morgan who handed her over. "She's so beautiful. What's her name?"

"Emilia." Caitlyn smiled, and Emily ducked her head down so no one could see her face.

"You alright?" Morgan asked, and Prentiss lifted her head to show tears streaming down her face. Her tough girl persona melting away for a moment. As all of the agents took turns holding the baby, Spencer came and leaned beside Caitlyn in the hospital bed.

"Now you know I don't hate you," he joked, referring to the first case they had worked together. Caitlyn leaned up and kissed him on the lips.

"You two are going to be amazing parents," JJ said, placing her hand on Spencer's back, "I know it's scary but it does change you and with all the scary things you see happen to children it's hard, but you are going to do a great job."

"With his parents as profilers, that girl's not going to get away with anything." Kate Callahan joked. While in Hotch's arm's Emilia started to cry and Hotch handed her back to Spencer who stopped her crying immediately.

"She's daddy's little girl already." JJ commented as Spencer looked down on his daughter.

"Yes, she is."

 _"_ _Oh darling, don't you ever grow up_

 _Don't you ever grow up, just stay this little_

 _Oh darling, don't you ever grow up_

 _Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple_

 _I won't let nobody hurt you, won't let no one break your heart_

 _And no one will desert you_

 _Just try to never grow up"_


	32. Forever

**A/N: I wanted to have the inspiration and ideas to continue on with this story, I really did. But with the last chapter I really felt that this was the place for me to end their story. Being a lover of lyrics and song fics and flashbacks and piecing things together. I hope that I am able to give this story closure with some of my favorite moments that have happened and I think it** **'** **s just a great summary of their love story with the song that I think fits this story and their relationship best. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you all for reviewing and staying with me and reading and giving me the encouragement to write this love story that I wanted to write so very badly. The song is "Ours", by Taylor Swift(i changed maybe two or three words to make it fit their story like this song is perfect for them but 99.95% is the same), lyrics are in bold, flashbacks in italics. And the fast** **forward in it's normal text.**

* * *

 **"Elevator buttons and morning air**

 **Strangers' silence makes me wanna take the stairs"**

 _"26? And you have doctorates?" She asked making eye contact with him once more and raising her brows._

 _"Yeah, I have three PhD's. I also have a BA in Psychology and Sociology."_

 _"Well then Doctor, we have something in common. I have a Masters in Psychology and BA in Sociology as well."_

 _"I'm a genius too!" Garcia chimed in, "I may not have degrees or have gotten them at a young age or anything but I am."_

 _"We have time to wait I'd love to hear your opinion on new Darwinism." Caitlyn suggested, lured in by how quickly the young doctor rattled off his academic achievements. The SWAT team was amazing but didn't have many with BA's in psychology, let alone doctorates._

 _"Yeah, I um, have to um, I forgot_ _…_ _" he began, "I have to grab... something. Next time._ _"_

" _Did I say something wrong?_ _"_

 **"If you were here we'd laugh about their vacant stares**

 **But right now my time is theirs"**

 _"Well, I think there may be someone, but I don't really know him and I'm pretty sure he hates me." Caitlyn said cracking a smile which in turn made the woman laugh lightly._

 _"That's how it always works doesn't it? Life has a funny way of working and so do people. That's why I love science it always had a way of being exact and not surprising you."_

 _"Yeah well Doctor, the way I feel about him surprises myself. I'm around dudes all day, nice looking ones too," Caitlyn said trying to keep the conversation light, "but I cared about my work and helping people, like we're going to help you now."_

 _"So you've never noticed anyone before?"_

 _"Not really," Caitlyn said honestly, "and the one I do hates me._ _"_

 **"Seems like there's always someone who disapproves**

 **They'll judge it like they know about me and you"**

 _"Well when I was on the roof with Dr. Braiser I was trying to distract her and I told her how I thought you hated me and she told me to tell you." Spencer then joined in with the laughter._

 _"There's a Thai restaurant that's open 24 hours, do you wanna go?"_

 _"Yeah, definitely."_

 _"Atta boy," Morgan smiled looking at the two smiling agents. Gideon turned in his seat to look at them as well._

 _"That's going to be really good, or a recipe for disaster I see it already."_

 _"Aw come on Gideon, why? I never thought that there would be a girl who could keep up with Reid and be able to listen to him babble as long as he does and then want to go somewhere with him. I didn't think there was any human who would want to." Morgan joked._

 _"Because they're going to fall in love with each other._ _"_

 **"And the verdict comes from those with nothing else to do**

 **The jury's out, but my choice is you"**

 _It was as if the Thai restaurant changed everything. It went from this timid fragile thing between the two of them, and now they were laughing and sharing bagels._

 _"So_ _…_ _I know we're around a lot of profilers. I think they're going to notice us_ _…_ _if there is an us." Caitlyn started._

 _"Is there an us?" Reid asked._

 _"I think there's the beginning of a possibility of an us." she smiled._

 _"I think as long as we do our jobs and keep it professional in the office there will be no problems. But they're all going to ask-"_

 _"I know what to say, you on the other hand just start spitting statistics or something." Caitlyn winked at him._

 _"So I have a plan, I'll come and pick you up." Spencer smiled._

 _"Okay." Caitlyn cautiously took a small step forward, putting a small amount of space between her and the doctor. He was quite a bit taller than her so she had to almost tilt her head fully up to look him in the eyes. She was almost certain she could hear his heartbeat. Closing her eyes she softy pressed her lips to his. It was like electricity, the softness of his lips, the scent of him was like the pages of new books and coffee. She pulled back slowly and he just stared at her blankly._

 _"Sorry," she began "I just have been wantin-" she was cut off by Reid placing his hand softly on the side of her face and pulling her in to kiss her again._

 _"Me too. I'll see you tonight."_

 _"See you tonight." Caitlyn responded as they both got into their cars grinning like idiots and unaware that Garcia caught the whole thing on the parking lot surveillance camera and was having a miniature heart attack._

 **"So don't you worry your pretty little mind**

 **People throw rocks at things that shine**

 **And life makes love look hard"**

 _"JJ, you don't have to explain." Caitlyn said. Morgan walked over to Hotch after an officer whispered in his ear. He tried to be quiet so Caitlyn couldn't hear. The only thing she couldn't help but hear was,_

 _there was no one in the field but it looks like someone had been dragged._

 _She couldn't cry, she couldn't even move. She wanted to throw up she wanted scream and run and curse everything but her emotions shut off. There was no time for that, especially if she wanted to help Spencer. JJ let out a wail and began to cry into the blanket and Caitlyn stood up stone faced and walked over to Morgan and Hotch, each step agonizing and feeling as though the world had tumbled down upon her and was on her back. Knives daggering at her heart as they looked upon her with empathy,_

 _"What's our next move, we have to find this son of a bitch."_

 _"Are you sure you're alright to do this?" Hotch asked, JJ still sniffling in the backround. Caitlyn gave him a look that made Hotch's resting glare look inviting._

 _"Im. Fine." she lied, "Let's go."_

 **"The stakes are high, the water's rough"**

 _Caitlyn looked into the computer screen, she knew that she was on camera._

 _"Spence, if you're watching this you're not responsible you understand me?" Reid instantly started to bawl at the sight of her face._

 _"He's perverting god to justify murder." Gideon added._

 _"You are stronger than him Spence, he can not break you." Caitlyn added before the feed cut off._

 _They were all in separate rooms when Garcia called them in, this time Hotch stopped her at the door and refused to let her in._

 _"What is happening Hotch! What is happening let me see!" Caitlyn growled, unknown that Reid was unconscious and Tobias was trying to get him back to life. Caitlyn broke though and saw Reid lying dead on the ground, still stone faced._

 **"But this love is ours"**

 _Reid made his way over to Caitlyn, falling to his knees infront of her. She looked up and him and grabbed onto him so tightly, afraid that she would break him._

 _"I love you, Spencer Reid. I love you so fucking much." Caitlyn sobbed._

 _"I love you too," he cried back, kissing her between her words._

 _"I'm sorry I left you I shouldn't have done that." Caitlyn cried, the rest of the agents looking at the two as they grabbed onto each other._

 _"That was so stupid I was so stupid." she cried. The young genius placed his hand on her face, finger lightly touching the bruise from where she had gotten knocked out._

 _"You're face, are you okay?" he asked, Caitlyn scoffed._

 _"Now you're stupid." they both were able to laugh a small amount between their tears, "I'm sorry."_

 _"It's not your fault. I'm okay."_

 _"I wanted it to be me instead of you."_

 _"I'm okay, Caitlyn. We're here together, we have each other._ _"_

 **"You never know what people have up their sleeves"**

 _"Spencer?" she asked groggily, sitting somewhat up._

 _"Yeah it's me," he answered, and she slid back down with an exasperated sigh. Reid turned on the bathroom light to not shine her out and changed into pajamas and slid into the bed behind her, wrapping his arms around her and placing his head into the nape of her neck, breathing her in._

 _"Caitlyn," he whispered._

 _"Hmmm?" she responded sleepily._

 _"I'm struggling." he felt her hand wrap around his, and she let out a sigh of relief._

 _"I know, I've known the whole time." she confessed, he pulled her closer._

 _"I'm so sorry." he whispered, "I'll never keep anything from you again, or treat you like that you didn't deserve it." Caitlyn turned around in his arms burying her head in his chest._

 _"It's okay, you can beat this. I'm going to help get you through this." she promised, and Reid tried to fight back tears._

 **"Ghosts from your past gonna jump out at me"**

 _"My brain has been sending me signals, I can't ignore them anymore." Spencer stated. The other agents tried to talk about his subconscious and his fathers abandonment sending him mixed signals but Caitlyn knew that his mind was made up and he wasn't going to budge. They had more in common than she thought. They were both stubborn as shit._

 _"I've come this far. I'm not going back." Reid said, Caitlyn stood up and grabbed his hand._

 _"Then we're going there with you." she smiled softly. The rest of the night they went over the case files, how the boy was murdered and found and starting to build a profile and how and why Riley was killed. Reid was looking at a map when he found out that his family lived half a mile away from Riley Jenkins._

 _"Reid, you know we're going to have to track down your dad." Morgan said._

 _"I should talk to my mother first." he responded._

 _"Reid I don't have to tell you that this was sexual in nature and need based, the man we're looking for is a pedophile. So I'll ask you again. Are you sure you want to go down this road?" Rossi asked, leaning forward. The young genius nodded and was off to go see his mother, Caitlyn ran after him in the hallway._

 _"Spencer!" she called after him, he turned around, holding onto the strap of his messenger bag. "I know that nothing is going to change your mind and you say that you're ready for this and I'm behind you all the way. But I want you to tell me if you're really okay."_

 _"Honestly, I'm terrified. But I can't let that boy die without having any justice, even if it was my father." he admitted to her. Caitlyn cupped his face in her hands and looked him deep in the eyes._

 _"You can't let your anger at your father cloud your vision, okay?"_

 _"Okay." he said. Caitlyn kissed him softly_

 **"Lurking in the shadows with their federal smiles,**

 **But I don't care 'cause right now you're mine"**

 _"Did you see that blonde agent, that's his girlfriend." Diane said, immediately going back into mother mode._

 _"I did. I didn't even really have to ask. Anytime you were talking to me she looked like she was a lioness wanting to tear my eyes out." William laughed._

 _"She can be like that sometimes with me." Spencer smiled._

 _"That's the kind of girl that you marry. Especially when you both see and go through the same things_ _…_ _the things that I had to leave after witnessing." William said._

 _"That's what I told him!" Diana interjected._

 _"You want to go officially meet her before we leave?"_

 _Caitlyn's Point of View_

 _When the family emerged out of the office she could tell on their faces that the dynamic was different. William went up to her first, and Caitlyn looked at Spencer first and he gave her a nod._

 _"Let's start over again, I'm William." he said, shaking her hand which Caitlyn returned firmly._

 _"I'm Caitlyn, nice to meet you. Sorry about being how I was earlier it was a delicate situation to say the least." she smiled as Spencer came beside her and pulled her to his hip._

 _"I always knew that my son would hook a good one," he winked at Caitlyn._

 _"They're going to give us the cutest grandchildren." Diana daydreamed. Spencer instantly went red,_

 _"Mom!"_

 _"Sorry Spencer but I want grandchildren and you both are adorable so they're going to be perfect." Diana responded._

 **"And you'll say**

 **Don't you worry your pretty little mind**

 **People throw rocks at things that shine"**

 _"You're so stupid." she said, tears finally falling from her eyes, trying to keep her face straight. She wanted to say something endearing but that's all she could muster._

 _"I'm sorry. I'm going to get out of here." he said._

 _"You can't die Spencer. I don't know what I'd do without you I love you so much. I will find a way to help you, I'll go to the edge of the earth." she cried._

 _"I'm going to get out of here, I have to give you this." he said pulling the wedding ring out of his pocket, Caitlyn fell to her knees and sobbed outside of the door, not caring what the rest of the team or any of the other officers saw. She was so happy but the nature of the situation that he may never be able to give it to her was even worse._

 _"Spencer_ _…_ _" she cried._

 _"I'm going to figure this out, and then will you marry me?" he asked._

 **"And life makes love look hard**

 **The stakes are high, the water's rough"**

 _"I can touch him now, right?" Caitlyn asked, looking at Spencer. He was breathing heavily and started to sweat. Caitlyn grabbed his hand before she gave him permission._

 _"You're going to be okay." Caitlyn said, trying not to cry anymore. This was her worst nightmare, this was worse than Tobias. Even though that wasn't the ideal situation either, but she had just fallen in love with him then. Now was different, that young genius was her whole world. He was the first thing she woke up to in the morning, the last thing she said at night. He was the scent on her clothes, the home to he house she lived in. He was the taste of her coffee that they chose at the store, the song that he hated but she loved every time she put it on and him hating it made her love it a little more. He was in everything she saw, and now she could be losing her world. That morning she was worried about her future and didn't know that her future could be over that fast, if he died her future died with him._

 _"Are you doing okay, Dr. Reid?" the doctor asked._

 _"My throat is a little scratchy, but other than that I fee_ _…_ _I feel.. fe_ _…_ _" he started to fumble with his words, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he began to cough up blood._

 _"Jesus Christ," Caitlyn started to wail, the doctor urging the driver to go faster. Spencer tried to say something to her, but she urged him to be quiet as he closed his eyes, she prayed for him to open them up again. They brought Spencer into a room to try and test him and find what to do. Caitlyn never felt so alone in her whole life, she knew that she couldn't call the team, if they had anything to tell her they would and she couldn't distract them. She sat in the waiting room, sobbing silently and holding her head between her knees trying to breathe in the waiting room._

 **"But this love is ours"**

 _"I can't believe you did that." Caitlyn said, more tears falling down her face as she finally was able to kiss him softly, carefully crawling up by him in the small hospital bed since he was safe and clean now. She had done the same thing in the hospital with him after the incident with Tobias._

 _"Honestly I really don't like spending the night in hospitals with you I'd rather us be at home, can you please stop putting yourself on the line and being the one who gets hurt?" Caitlyn asked, placing her head on his chest and listening to his heart beat._

 _"I'll stop when you do." he countered, she smiled at him._

 _"I told you I would figure this out but there's something you didn't tell me," he started._

 _"Yeah, I know. So say it again." she said._

 _"Will you marry me?"_

 _"A thousand times yes._ _"_

 **"And it's not theirs to speculate**

 **If it's wrong and"**

 _"Are you two flirting over here, or are you doing business?" she asked raising her eye brow. Caitlyn had to use every bit of strength in her body not to knock her out right there._

 _"Excuse me?" Caitlyn said, turning to face her directly._

 _"I just want to make sure that the two of you are giving this case your full attention. I do not condone dating between agents, especially on the same team. But Agent Hotchner stood up and gave a fair case." Strauss condescended._

 _"Yeah, and we all know that you don't trust his judgement." Caitlyn fired back, Spencer put a hand on her shoulder._

 _"Just letting you two know that I have an eye on you. You're still fairly new to this team Robertson, we don't want any googly eyes clouding any of my agent's judgement. Your success rate has gone down in your role during past cases. But I have to give it a little longer to determine whether it's just circumstance or," she looked Spencer up and down, "something else."_

 _Morgan walked up as she was walking away and Spencer's light hand on Caitlyn's shoulder had turned into a death grip as if he was holding her back._

 **"Your hands are tough**

 **But they are where mine belong and"**

 _"Seriously," Spencer continued, "I just feel extremely lucky right now. That I'm here with_ _…_ _you. When you walked into the BAU that day I was sure that you would be somewhere with Morgan and I was so nervous I couldn't even look you in the eyes. I'm not the kind of guy that gets a girl like you, or any girl for that matter." Caitlyn turned her body completely towards him._

 _"You're not the kind of guy who gets a girl like me?" she asked slowly._

 _"I didn't mean that in an offensive-" he started, getting nervous._

 _"That's not where I was going. Dr. Reid, you've got me. Do I have you?"_

 _"Yes." he responded, finally understanding where she was going._

 _"Then it's settled, we're each others." she smiled, Spencer grinned back at her once again grabbing her face in his hands and lightly kissing her on the lips._

 **"I'll fight their doubt and give you faith**

 **With this song for you"**

 _"When I first joined the team and someone said that you two were dating I thought they were playing a practical joke on me." Rossi confessed, "but then I saw you two. I learned a lot about relationships from my three marriages, and for you two to make it work like this for two years, that's impressive."_

 _"I was scared at first, we kind of got off to a rough start with a lot of things. And my mom and dad's relationship wasn't the best. We both know how that can impact someone, so I was always hesitant and didn't want to let anyone in. I still feel that way, it took a while to let the team in. And now I'm here talking to you so I guess I'm getting a little better at it. I was just always taught not to cry, not to talk about how you feel and your problems and to keep it all to yourself. It got me into some trouble." Caitlyn admitted._

 _"Do you think that you two will ever get married?" Rossi asked._

 _"I don't know if Spencer would ever want that, but if he asked me I wouldn't have to think for a second." Caitlyn answered._

 **"Cause you love the gap between my teeth**

 **And I love the riddles that you speak"**

 _"Saying that today is the best day of my life would be a lie. Because ever since I have met you, everyday has been better than the last. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I know a lot, I'm a genius. But you've taught me things that I never even thought to imagine. You make me want to be a better man, you make me feel like I can do anything and I love you with every fiber of my being. We're on a team but you are my partner. Every cell in my body loves you, every minute that I'm not with you is spent counting down the seconds until we're back together. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you, I can't wait to be the one who makes you coffee in the morning and gets you out of bed even if you're not the best when it's early," the crowd of people watching the sermon laughed at his joke, and so did Caitlyn who was trying not to bawl as he said his vows to her, he continued, "I'm going to make sure that you're happy and I can't wait to start this adventure and learn even more from you._ _"_

 **"And any snide remarks from you mother about my tattoos will be ignored**

 **'Cause my heart is yours"**

 _Spencer smiled, going to run a bath for Caitlyn and helped get her undressed and into the tub. Caitlyn held her knees to her chest as Spencer used a cup to run the water over her and wash through her hair and then helped get her changed into some clean clothes. Caitlyn stared at herself in the mirror, eyes puffy from crying as she saw Spencer come from behind and stand behind her._

 _"We are the Reid's, for some reason the worst things happen to us, but we always have each other and we always make it work." Spencer said, holding her tightly._

 **"So don't you worry your pretty little mind**

 **People throw rocks at things that shine**

 **And life makes love look hard"**

 _"I'm sorry I threw an encyclopedia at you." she apologized, last night she had gotten mad for some reason that she couldn't even remember before and totally took it out on Spencer. God bless the patience that he had with her and JJ helping her through her pregnancy. Hotch had even taken her gun away- at least instructed Spencer to lock it away because he didn't want anyone shot out of a hormonal meltdown._

 _"You promise this is the last case that you're going to come on?" Spencer asked her._

 _"Yes and then I'll be stuck here alone, probably calling you a thousand times missing you or at the BAU driving Garcia crazy." Caitlyn sighed._

 **"Don't you worry your pretty little mind**

 **People throw rocks at things that shine**

 **But they can't take what's ours"**

 _"You have to get her out of there, I can't lose her and this baby Hotch. I don't think I could recover, please." Spencer begged. He began to cry as he heard a gunshot go off from inside the control room. Desperate the genius got up and began to use everything that he could to try and break into the control room, even though he knew that there was nothing that he could do. Rossi wrapped his arms around Reid and pulled him back._

 _"You gotta calm down, we'll get them out." Rossi tried to comfort him._

 _"My life is in that cell, I'll die Rossi, I can't." he whimpered, slumping to the floor._

 **"They can't take what's ours"**

 _"Caitlyn, if anything happened to you, I would die. I don't think you understand that. You are my world and you have another part of my life inside you." he stared into her._

 _"I'm sorry," she said as the young doctor took off her shoes and began to massage her feet, the agent giggled and pulled back._

 _"Very nice gesture, but you know I'm so ticklish. It's my back that's killing me." Caitlyn confessed._

 _"Well alight then." Spencer said, shutting off the lights, tucking Caitlyn into bed and snuggling behind her, gently kneading the small of her back._

 _"That feels good, thank you. I love you." she told him._

 _"I love you too." he responded, falling asleep with her pulled against him, hands on her stomach, feeling the kick of the life inside her._

 **"The stakes are high"**

 _"I hate this." Caitlyn sighed, Spencer with his go bag hanging on his shoulder._

 _"Trust me, I miss you too and I don't like leaving you either." he said holding her into him._

 _"But I'm not going to get killed or something in Garcia's tech lair." Caitlyn complained._

 _"I promise, I'll be back to you as soon as I can, and I'll be safe. And I'll call, and text and you know how awful I am with technology but I'll do it for you and I'll do it often." he said, placing kisses on her lips each time he paused and started a new sentence._

 _"I love you." Caitlyn teared up, those damn hormones._

 _"I love you," Spencer said, before kneeling down and kissing her stomach, "and I love you." This caused Caitlyn to cry and continue to cry until the jet made it's way into the sky._

 **"the water's rough"**

 _She was about 10 hours into labor, the pains were intense and coming and going. Garcia had come from the BAU and was by her side._

 _"I hate him, I hate him." Caitlyn said with each contraction._

 _"What? Who do you hate?" Garcia asked._

 _"SPENCER! I hate him! Where the HELL IS HE, why did he get me pregnant! I hate him!" Caitlyn screamed. She had been tortured, beaten, bruised but nothing compared to labor. It felt like she was being stabbed from the inside and no one would let her die._

 _"How many centimeters dilated is she?" Caitlyn heard a familiar voice approaching, and she burst into tears when she saw Spencer come through the door, medical charts in hand._

 **"But this love is ours"**

 _"I'm going to love you and take such good care of you. You are going to be so loved, and so protected. You're going to get into a really good school because you're going to be smart like your daddy, and you're going to be so beautiful because you're going to look just like your mommy. " Caitlyn heard Spencer saying quietly in the chair beside her as she started to wake up slowly. Caitlyn was right, it was a girl. A beautiful baby girl. She was right. Caitlyn yawned and opened to see Spencer sitting in the chair holding their baby. They named her Emilia Dianne Reid. After Emily and Spencer's mom._

 _"Mommy's awake." Spencer said, standing up and bringing Emilia over to her. Caitlyn smiled up at him._

 _"Hey Spencer," Caitlyn said tiredly, "we have a baby._ _"_

 _xxxxxxxxxxx_

 _5 years later_

"Emilia!" Caitlyn called after her daughter who was running wildly through the halls of Rossi's mansion. She had long brown hair just like Spencer's that flew in the wind behind her as Caitlyn chased behind her. It was Emilia's 5th birthday party and Rossi had agreed to let them have the celebration there. The young girl had him wrapped around her finger, so basically anything she wanted she would ask and Rossi would give her. "Come on Emilia you have to put on the dress Aunt Garcia gave you or you'll make her sad!"

"No! I want to go find daddy!" The young girl called back and Caitlyn stopped when she reached the backyard and saw the young girl leap into Spencer's arms. The backyard was wide and there were little kids running around everywhere. Now two of JJ's, one of Morgan's and Rossi's grandson. Caitlyn smiled as she saw Spencer pull a fake coin out of Emilia's ear. She was definitely the tomboy, which she had gotten from Caitlyn and Morgan made sure that she played some sports, Emilia was really great at soccer but wanted to learn karate. So that she could "kick ass" like the woman she was named after. This caused Caitlyn to send her to time out- which was short lived after she batted her eyelashes at Spencer a couple of times. Emilia was also extremely smart, Spencer spent a lot of time with her helping with her schooling and the girl had a natural ability to learn things quickly and was speaking before she was 2 and even skipped a grade. The agents made a way so that they were still able to work for the BAU and be present in their daughter's life as much as possible.

"Look at all these kids!" Emily said coming from beside her.

"I know, it's crazy, isn't it?" Caitlyn said.

"Not at all, I knew from the second you two started that you'd end up here. But from the first day at that round table I definitely didn't expect us all to be here and all the things that happened."

"It's because we're a family." Caitlyn smiled.

"Mommy!" Emilia called, Caitlyn hugged Emily and ran over to where Emilia and Spencer were standing.

"Can I go with Henry and Derek down by the water to play some catch with them please, I promise I'll be nice." she pleaded, the little girl was extremely competitive and was prone to getting in fights with her god brother Henry.

"Daddy said yes! I told him when I ate my cake and he said a lot of things that I don't understand really fast but then he said yes."

"Okay, you can go." Caitlyn smiled, she let out a small gasp when Spencer pulled him tightly to her and kissed her hard.

"She's got you wrapped around her little finger, you know that right?" Caitlyn said, hugging into him tightly.

"She's not the only one." he smiled, kissing her deeply again, pulling her in by the small of her back as he deepened the kiss.

"Ew! Mommy, daddy! I can still see you! Gross!" Emilia called before running after Morgan.

"Don't let her strain herself too much, make sure she hydrates Morgan!" Spencer called and Morgan just waved him off.

"That girl," Caitlyn sighed.

'She's just like her mother, absolutely perfect."

"She's ours."

"I love you."

"Forever."


End file.
